Monday 27 September 2010

Back to the future

As alluded to in Friday's progress update. MOSI has elected to rename the Main Building to the Great Western Warehouse. Here is a short article from the new issue of our Revolution MOSI newsletter, briefly explaining the reasons behind the decision to change the name, and the historic importance of the Great Western Warehouse name:

The Museum looked to the past for inspiration when renaming one of its iconic buildings as part of the ongoing 'Revolution MOSI' site development.

"The reason for changing the name of our Main Building to the Great Western Warehouse is to make more of the site's heritage, of which the buildings are a key part of that", explains Marketing Manager Jill Flynn. "For some time now, visitors have not been aware of the significance of the site on which the Museum is located, and therefore, by giving the building its original name, this not only goes someway to explaining the history of the site and the buildings' initial purpose, but also gives the beautifully restored former Victorian warehouse the name it deserves."

What's in a name?

Was... Main Building
Now... Great Western Warehouse
Why... The warehouse was built in 1880 to provide storage for the Great Western Railway or 'God's Wonderful Railway' as it was affectionately nicknamed. Rail tracks ran into the ground floor from the adjoining viaduct, providing a transit area and loading platforms either side of the tracks allowing goods to be loaded and unloaded straight from the trains onto waiting road wagons. The wagons could enter the Warehouse through doors along the Upper Yard and on Lower Byrom Street or park outside the loading bays on the North Side.

Issue 4 of our Revolution MOSI broadsheet newsletter will be available for download from the official MOSI website soon.

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