Exhibitions at the museums

Southampton Maritime Museum and Museum of Archaeology are both now closed to the public, to allow for artefacts to be moved into the new museum. In October 2010 Kier Southern started work on phase 1 of the project that will transform the Grade II Old Magistrates' Court building into Sea City, a new visitor attraction for the city, opening in time to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster in April 2012.

The project will include the development of a new Special Exhibitions Gallery. It will host a dynamic range of temporary exhibitions covering arts and heritage subjects. The programme will include in-house productions, based upon Southampton's own collections, and touring exhibitions from national museums, art galleries and similar organisations.

The first temporary exhibition opening in April 2012 will be 'Titanic, the Legend'; this will focus on the international fascination with the story of the Titanic.

The permanent galleries will focus on two main themes:

• Southampton as Gateway to the World, recounting the stories of people who have departed from or arrived in the port of Southampton over at least the last 2000 years.
• Southampton's Titanic Story will focus on the hidden history of RMS Titanic's crew, and will explore what it was like to be in the Merchant Navy 100 years ago.