Image: The museum will feature thousands of artefacts

The new £35m Mary Rose Museum will open to the public in early 2013, slightly later than originally expected.

Located at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, the new Wilkinson Eyre-designed attraction was first slated to open in autumn 2012, although no exact date had been set.

Construction work on the iconic museum - undertaken by Warings Group - has been completed but the final fit out of interiors will take longer than initially thought.

A spokesperson for the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard said: "We are delighted to have taken possession of the building from Warings.

"Although fit-out was already underway, this will now be our main focus over the coming months with the many thousands of artefacts being installed in their cases.

"This whole process remains technically very challenging and we want the museum to be outstanding in every way before opening our doors, so it's envisaged that the new museum will open early 2013."

When open, the new attraction will feature a walkway that will enable visitors to view parts of the hull of Henry VIII's former flagship.

Work on the preservation of the ship's structure was completed in 2011 and polyethylene glycol sprays that have been used to conserve the timbers will shortly be turned off.

A five-year process of drying out will begin following the sprays being turned off, with visitors able to look into a 'hotbox' with ducting running throughout. The hull is expected to be made entirely visible in 2016.

For more details on the Mary Rose Trust, click here/a>.

For more details on Warings, click here.