The Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds reopened its doors to visitors on Wednesday 16 September following a six-month closure.
The first week of opening was a great success. Visitors to the museum were able to discover many of the treasures of the collection in the War, Oriental, Self-defence and Hunting Galleries. The spectacular Hall of Steel with its display of over 2,500 items of arms and armour was a top feature for many visitors. Other visit highlights included the elephant armour, a pair of “blasters” created for the original Star Wars film franchise and a complete 2,300 year-old Greek armour.
Costumed characters from throughout history have been on hand to greet visitors. Mark Jackson, Events and Informal Learning Manager said: “It is fantastic to see visitors discovering our museum again. After six months of working from home the live interpretation team were excited to be back in the museum and in costume entertaining audiences. The team will continue to be in the galleries each day to welcome visitors and to talk about our amazing collection.”
The first weekend was fully booked. Regulars were eager to return and first-time visitors wanted to find out what the museum had to offer. Feedback has been positive, including one visitor who said: “A big thank you to all staff, very difficult times but we were given a very warm welcome and we loved our visit”, and another visitor said: “The staff in different costumes are great and they really know about their armour.”
Visitors can find out what to expect in a visit to the museum by watching our reopening video on our website now. To help keep everyone safe masks must be worn in the museum and the Royal Armouries has developed its very own range of armour inspired face coverings which are for sale in the shop.
Visits to the museum are free, but must be prebooked online. Once at the museum, visitors can stay for as long as they like to explore the galleries, enjoy the café and browse in the shop.
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Notes to editors:
Entry is free, but visits must be prebooked online here
Enquiries: Press@armouries.org.uk
High res image found here
Royal Armouries is set to launch Yorkshire’s first ever escape room to feature a boss-style battle at its museum in Leeds. RA/ID will be the first escape game of its kind to accommodate up to 5 players, and will feature 15 minutes of thrilling gameplay within the room itself, plus a mission which allows adventurers to experience the museum in a whole new way.
Accessing the escape room is the goal of a specially designed puzzle-trail leading thrill-seeking guests on a quest to find clues in the museum’s galleries. The new attraction is the initial project in a series planned to expand the Royal Armouries entertainment offer to visitors, and promises family friendly fun and interesting new ways to engage with the collections.
In this new space-themed escape room experience game participants join the fight to protect ‘our world’ when it is threatened by cosmic chaos in a mythical universe. ‘Agents’ must classify and study historic objects, legends and puzzles to ensure that the forces of good and evil remain in constant balance. Should the forces misalign, there could be a shift between the two realms, and the evil forces of the alternate universe might infiltrate the real world. Should this crack in time appear the agents must act fast to save the Earth.
Adam Lumb, Head of Commercial and IP, said “Royal Armouries has a long history of collaborating with the film, TV and video game industries. In 2020 we launch our own entertainment product RA/ID to complement the props from the worlds of other movie franchises in our Make: Believe gallery. Partnering with the fantastic team at The Great Escape Game to bring this world to life for our visitors will create a new museum experience incorporating their hallmark of immersive set builds and game play. We cannot wait to welcome audiences to try this new way of interacting with our amazing collections”.
Hannah Duraid, Managing Director at The Great Escape Game, said “We’re honoured to have been able to collaborate with the Royal Armouries Museum to offer this unprecedented type of experience. Leeds is a fantastic city, and already home to one of our flagship sites, and we can’t wait to see what guests think of this latest experience”.
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For event updates follow:
https://royalarmouries.org
www.twitter.com/royal_armouries
www.facebook.com/RoyalArmouriesMuseum/
www.instagram.com/RoyalArmouriesMuseum/
Further enquiries to:
Debbie Fisher
Interim Head of Marketing & Communications
debbie.fisher@royalarmouries.org.uk
Telephone: 0113 220 1972
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