There was a lot to celebrate at the Museum this week as we welcomed our two millionth visitor! We also discovered we’d been awarded a significant Arts Council Grant for our next major exhibition, due to open in 2020.

This week was a big milestone in National Maritime Museum Cornwall’s history as we welcomed our two millionth visitor through the doors since opening in 2003. Averaging at 125,000 visitors each year, we are the most visited museum in the county, contributing multiple millions of pounds to Falmouth’s and Cornwall’s economy.

The lucky visitors, Gurmit, Mansik and Narinder Gill from Nottingham were treated to free entry to the Museum, a Heritage Boat Tour around Falmouth’s harbour and lunch in the café by the Museum’s Head of Visitor Experience, Graham Stratfold.

Richard Doughty, National Maritime Museum Cornwall’s Director said: ‘This is an incredible milestone. Our two millionth visitor falls within weeks of the 20th anniversary of the day construction started on the Museum building. The Museum officially opened in 2003 and each year we have worked hard to create new and exciting reasons to visit. In museum terms we are still very young so to reach this milestone is reassuring that the work we do is hitting the mark with our visitors’.

The good news continued as we can also reveal we have been awarded an Arts Council National Lottery Project Grant of £49,950 for our next blockbuster exhibition. Due to open in March 2020, we’re keeping the exact nature of this exhibition under wraps for the time being but promise it will be a ‘real show stopper’.

Stuart Slade, the exhibitions co-creator, said: ‘This funding allows the Museum to take even greater risks and be even more ambitious. We can build on our track record of bringing nationally and internationally important artefacts to audiences in Cornwall. This exhibition has been years in the making and we are looking forward to sharing more details about it soon’.

Details of the new exhibition, due to open in March 2020, will be released towards the end of this year – watch this space!