King Richard III Visitor Centre
King Richard III Visitor Centre is a museum in Leicester, England that showcases the life of King Richard III and the story of the discovery, exhumation, and reburial of his remains in 2012-2015.
 Entrance and shop | |
| Established | Greyfriars: c. 1230 King Richard III Visitor Centre: 26 July 2014 |
|---|---|
| Location | 4A Saint Martins, Leicester, LE1 5DB, England, United Kingdom |
| Visitors | 300,000+ (since 2014) |
| Website | kriii |
For a long time, the burial place of Richard III was uncertain, although the site of his burial was assumed to be in Leicester. DNA evidence enabled the identification of his remains.
The centre opened on 26 July 2014 on the site of the then recently excavated Greyfriars, the medieval friary where the King was buried in 1485 following his death at the Battle of Bosworth Field.
Location
The Centre occupies a former school, Alderman Newton's School, next to the original Social Services car park where King Richard's remains were found during Philippa Langley and the Richard III Society's excavation project, which was started by the University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) on 25 August 2012 (the remains were found on the first day).
Because of worldwide interest in the discovery, Leicester City Council converted the Victorian school building into a visitor centre.[1] The project includes a covered area over the original grave site, which was in the choir of the friary, alongside a section of the choir floor of the church. The centre cost £4 million, and was designed by Paul East of Maber Architects.[2]
Access and conservation
The burial site is part of a scheduled monument. In December 2017, Historic England scheduled a significant part of the site of the former friary. While the associated buildings had long been demolished, the site was assessed as having archaeological potential.[3][4]
Awards
In October 2018, the Visitor Centre was awarded "Best Museum" in the Group Leisure and Travel Awards, after being nominated in the same category as the British Museum and the National Railway Museum.[5]
Gallery
The grave of Richard III from 1485
The floor of the choir of Greyfriars, Leicester
View of the in-situ floor tiles at Greyfriars, Leicester
Rubble of the tower base of Greyfriars, Leicester
Replica of Richard III's armour
The "muscle stage" of the reconstruction of the face of Richard III
Richard III's reconstructed face
The upstairs gallery of the museum
The replica of Richard III's skeleton
A replica of the oldest surviving portrait of Richard III, with the original dating to around 1520
The pall that covered the coffin of Richard III when he was re-buried in 2015
See also
- Exhumation and reburial of Richard III of England
- Greyfriars, Leicester
- Richard III Experience at Monk Bar – Museum in the City of York, North Yorkshire, England
References
- Kennedy, Maev (2014). "Richard III visitor centre in Leicester opens its doors to the public". theguardian.com. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
Visitors to the £4.5m centre will see a replica skeleton of the Plantagenet king and the grave that held his body for 500 years
- Watson, Greg (2014). "Does Leicester's Richard III centre live up to the hype?". BBC. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
- Kennedy, M (December 2017). "Leicester car park where Richard was". www.theguardian.com.
- Historic England (21 December 2017). "Greyfriars, Leicester (1442955)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
- Martin, Dan (15 October 2018). "Richard III Visitor Centre in Leicester beats British Museum and Tate Britain to top tourism award". Leicester Mercury. Retrieved 15 May 2019.