Museum of the Year 2014 Finalist: Mary Rose Museum

Portsmouth's Mary Rose Museum opened in May 2013 and demonstrates innovation and imagination in the presentation of a truly unqiue artefact and its associated objects.

The museum displays the starboard section of the flagship that served King Henry VIII for 34 years, before spending more than 400 years under the Solent. For the first time, the ship has been reunited with the possessions of the crew and all the material of a Tudor warship.

The Mary Rose and its unique collection are now housed in an elegant space. The permanent exhibition engages visitors through the intensely personal nature of the objects and the stories they tell of the people on board, providing an inimitable insight into Tudor life.

Everything in the museum is from one archaeological site, capturing the moment when the ship and most of the crew were lost. It is the fulfillment of the ambitions of the thousands who have worked on the project.