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Ever since its reign as the UK City of Culture in 2017, Hull has swiftly swept away any assumptions of it being a forgotten post-industrial outpost. Recently, the East Yorkshire port city has blossomed thanks to millions of pounds of investment and a thriving arts and culture scene. Last year, it was even named in National Geographic’s best places in the world to visit in 2026, thanks to its ‘laid-back charm’.
Now, there’s even more reason to visit Hull. The city is about to reopen its much-loved maritime museum after a massive six-year-long £20 million refurbishment project.
The Hull Maritime Museum, which sits in a grand Grade II-listed old docks office, will open its doors again on Saturday August 8. As well as the artefacts it’s always housed, it will also treat visitors to new exhibits and immersive exhibitions, and the chance to explore one of the building’s impressive domes for the first time.
It’s been a long wait to see the modernised museum, which, after closing in early 2020, was due to reopen in late 2023. Several delays pushed the opening date back to this year.
It’ll certainly be worth the wait, though. The new museum is set to feature a rare scrimshaw tooth linked to a Hull whaling ship called Truelove (which made 72 Arctic voyages over more than a century), as well as a decorated sperm whale tooth – which shows the ship the Phoenix of London hunting a sperm whale, depicted by American scrimshaw artist Edward Burdett. There’s also one of a famous series of engraved whale teeth by Frederick Myrick depicting the Nantucket whaleship Susan off the coast of Japan, plus hand-painted whale ear bones transformed into surreal human faces and a whale jawbone plaque depicting an unusual bowhead whale hunt.
Meanwhile, the Maritime Museum’s restored dome will let visitors see brilliant panoramic rooftop views across the city for the first time.
The museum’s curator of social and maritime history, Robin Diaper, said the new museum will allow it to tell ‘Hull’s maritime story in a richer and more ambitious way than ever before’. Hull has a storied maritime history dating back to the 12th century, and Diaper hopes the museum will reveal this vital role as well as ‘the human stories, creativity and global connections that grew from life at sea’.
The museum is just one part of a city-wide Hull Maritime programme, which hopes to illuminate the city’s maritime heritage. It involves other projects across the city, including the restored Spurn Lightship, the relocation of the Arctic Corsair, the construction of a new visitor centre, and the rejuvenation of Queen’s Gardens.
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