Portsmouth's Mary Rose Museum given £250k by the National Lottery to survive coronavirus crisis
LOTTERY chiefs have awarded £250,000 to help protect a maritime museum from financial ruin during the coronavirus crisis.
The Mary Rose museum in Portsmouth has received the cash bailout from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The museum has been battling for survival after losing millions of pounds in lost revenue.
The heritage gem, home to the doomed Tudor warship the Mary Rose, closed to the public in March during lockdown.
It only reopened last month but leaders at the attraction said the pandemic closure meant that 84 per cent of its annual income was lost.
In a bid to save cash, bosses furloughed the majority of staff at the museum.
But despite the closure, costs of preserving the thousands of 500-year-old artefacts continued to spiral, placing the Mary Rose Museum in jeopardy.
Helen Bonser-Wilton, chief executive of the Mary Rose Trust, said the lottery cash was vital in getting the attraction through the winter.
She added: ‘National Lottery players were instrumental in funding the creation of the Mary Rose Museum, so we are exceptionally grateful to receive this renewed support to help cover the costs of caring for Mary Rose during this crisis period.
'The National Lottery Heritage Fund has been a beacon of hope for so many heritage organisations during this challenging period and its emergency funding is providing a much needed lifeline to UK heritage organisations.’
Leaders at the National Museum of the Royal Navy and the Mary Rose announced a new joint venture in a bid to help each other through the pandemic.
The two organisations launched a new joint ticket, allowing visitors to see all the attractions in the dockyard for a single price.