A stylish man bag – just one of the never seen before Tudor treasures recovered from the Mary Rose
The Mary Rose Trust has unveiled an innovative plan raise £250,000 in public funding towards the remaining £1 million needed to complete its ambitious redevelopment project.
Previously unseen artefacts recovered from Henry VIII's famous flagship have also been revealed by the Mary Rose Trust to kick-start its first ever public fundraiser, the Mary Rose 500 appeal.
The appeal is seeking 500 individuals, schools, businesses and organisations to clamber aboard and form a symbolic "new crew" of the Tudor warship.
Each new crew member will pledge to raise £500 towards the appeal's £250,000 target, which will contribute to the final £1 million public appeal to help fund the new purpose-designed and built Mary Rose Museum.
The new museum, at Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard, is due to open in time for the 2012 London Olympics, reuniting the ship with the objects she once carried.
New state of the art galleries will contextualise the vast collection of objects, and the displays will correspond to the places they were found onboard. The ship itself will be visible behind a glass screen while the drying out process continues until 2016, when glass walkways will enable visitors to see the Tudor vessel "in the flesh".
Rear Admiral John Lippett launches the Tudor 500 appeal with a pure gold half sovereign and a Tudor tankard recovered from the Mary Rose
To highlight the need for the new museum, the Trust has revealed a new selection of finds recovered from the ship which have been hidden away in the Mary Rose's reserve collection due to a lack of display space.
Among them is Europe's oldest example of a fiddle and bow, a beautifully-preserved leather "manbag" – thought to have been the height of Tudor fashion – and a giant wooden spoon used to stir the crew's porridge pot.
"The importance of these Tudor artefacts, many of which we have never had the space to put on public display, cannot be underestimated," said Rear Admiral John Lippiett, Chief Executive of the Mary Rose Trust.
"Nowhere else in the world is a single moment in Tudor life captured as it is with the Mary Rose.
"Although significant funding has been raised and work on the new museum has already begun, the project cannot be completed without financial support from the public. Now is the time to help us secure the future of Henry VIII's favourite ship for generations to come."
The Heritage Lottery Fund confirmed a pledge of £21 million for the new museum earlier this year and the Mary Rose Trust has been charged with raising the additional £14 million towards the £35 million project. Nearly £10 million has been raised so far.
The new Mary Rose Museum as it will appear in 2012. Wilkinson Eyre Architects
"With the help of the new crew of the Mary Rose, who symbolise the 500 members onboard when it sank in the Solent in 1545, we are about to write the final chapter in an extraordinary story which began with her raising from the seabed in front of a worldwide television audience of 60 million in 1982,” added Rear Admiral Lippiett.
The existing Mary Rose Museum, located separately at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, remains open throughout the construction period and offers an amazing visitor experience including new exhibits and more than 1,000 of the finest preserved artefacts recovered from the site.
Find out more about the Mary Rose 500 appeal on their website.
Find out what Christopher Dobbs of the Mary Rose Trust chose as his Curator's Choice from the Mary Rose Collection.
The collection of Mary Rose Trust is a Designated collection.
