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 The Royal Armouries Museum and Knight's Way Bridge | |
  Location within Leeds | |
| Established | 1996; 29 years ago (1996) |
|---|---|
| Location | Leeds Dock,Leeds,LS10 England |
| Coordinates | 53°47′31″N1°31′57″W / 53.79194444°N 1.53250000°W /53.79194444; -1.53250000 |
| Type | National museum |
| Visitors | 240,000 (2019)[1] |
| Director | Nat Edwards |
| Public transit access |
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| Website | royalarmouries.org |
TheRoyal Armouries Museum inLeeds,West Yorkshire, England, is a national museum that holds the National Collection of Arms and Armour. It is part of theRoyal Armouries family of museums, with other sites at the Royal Armouries' traditional home in theTower of London, and the National Collection of Artillery atFort Nelson, Hampshire. The Royal Armouries is anon-departmental public body sponsored by theDepartment for Culture, Media and Sport.[2]
The Royal Armouries Museum is a £42.5 million purpose-built museum located inLeeds Dock that opened in 1996. Its collection was previously on display or in storage at the Tower of London where the Royal Armouries still maintains a presence and displays in theWhite Tower.[3]
As at allUK National Museums, entry is free, though certain extra attractions are charged for.
The museum was one of the first projects carried out under the UKprivate finance initiative: anon-departmental public body, the Royal Armouries, contracted with a private sector company, Royal Armouries International (RAI), which was financed by a long-term bank loan fromBank of Scotland, and grant support from theUK Government,Leeds Development Corporation andLeeds City Council, together with equity investment from3i,Gardner Merchant,Electra andYorkshire Electricity.[4] RAI commissioned a new building to accommodate the museum: it was designed byDerek Walker andBuro Happold,[5] and built byAlfred McAlpine at a cost of £42.5 million[6] and was officially opened byQueen Elizabeth II in March 1996.[7]
![The Horned Helmet that was the basis for the museum's original logo[8]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fwikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aHorned_Helmet_Royal_Armouries_Museum_leeds.JPG)
![Former Royal Armouries Museum logo, designed by Minale Tattersfield.[8]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fwikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aFormer_Royal_Armories_logo.jpg){kind=logo}
Situated close to Leeds city centre on the South bank of theRiver Aire the museum is one of the focal points of the regenerated Leeds waterfront. It is located onArmouries Square, inLeeds Dock. Road access is by Armouries Drive and Chadwick Street.[9]
The Royal Armouries Museum itself was designed from the inside out. The ceiling heights of the new building were designed to accommodate the longest staff weapons in the collections, displayed vertically, and are 6.5 meters off the ground at their highest point.[10]
In addition to the five original galleries which house 5,000 objects in the permanent displays and the Peace Gallery, the museum also includes the Hall of Steel, a giant staircase whose walls are decorated with trophy displays composed of 2,500 objects reminiscent of the historical trophy displays erected by the Tower Armouries from the 17th century.[3]
The main entrance to the museum is accessed from Armouries Square.[11]
With displays dedicated to:[12]
This gallery can be found within the War Gallery and looks at the potential for a future free of arms, looking at disarmament and concepts such asdétente. This gallery is in partnership with thePeace Museum in nearbyBradford.[13]
A gallery with displays dedicated to:[14]
A large gallery on two floors showing a variety of arms and armour from the glory days of jousting.[15]
This gallery has a number of different displays dedicated to:[16]
Running alongside theRiver Aire for 490 feet (150 m), with seating on the land-ward side, is the Jousting Arena: though the museum no longer has its own horses, two important jousting contests each year are still held with competitors from all over the world.[17]Easter is the height of the jousting calendar when the arena hosts a four-day international competition between up to four jousting teams. The four teams compete fromGood Friday toEaster Sunday against each other, with the tournament final onEaster Monday.[18]Summer sees the jousting season close with the last tournament of the year, an individual joust with jousters from all over the world competing for The Queen's Golden Jubilee Trophy.[19]
In March 2011, following a 15% reduction in the Royal Armouries's funding,[20] seventeen members of staff "including all of the museum’s expert horse riders, professional actors and stable staff" lost their jobs.[21]
The museum is mentioned in theKaiser Chiefs song "Team Mate", from the band's debut album,Employment.[22]
The Nightmare Stacks, by Charles Stross, is mainly set in and around Leeds and the novel's title is an allusion to the museum's holdings.[23]
TheGamespot YouTube series "Firearms Expert Reacts" was filmed on the museum grounds and features the Royal Armouries Keeper of Firearms and Artillery,Jonathan Ferguson, analyzing the design and use of firearms in popular video games.[24]
Ricky explains the influence of his hometown on their debut album, Employment: "... I even mention the Royal Armouries in one song...
53°47′31″N1°31′56″W / 53.791866°N 1.532258°W /53.791866; -1.532258
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