The opening of the new £72m, 3xN-designed Museum of Liverpool - scheduled for the spring of this year - has been delayed until July.

The museum - which has received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Northwest Regional Development Agency, Merseyside Objective One and the Garfield Weston Foundation - will examine the history of Liverpool and its people under four core themes: Port City, Global City, People's City and Creative City.

A three-phased opening had originally been planned to begin in spring 2011 but this has now been reduced to two.

Phase one will see the opening of the Skylight gallery, displaying Ben Johnson's 'Liverpool Cityscape' opposite Mike McCartney's selection of photographic views of Liverpool.

Also opening in July will be the Global City gallery and a children's gallery called Little Liverpool, which features a variety of sensory and visual displays, including a water play-space based on the River Mersey.

The second phase, expected towards the end of the year, will include The Great Port and Liverpool Overhead Railway galleries, plus a 38m timeline featuring objects forming the backbone of the History Detectives gallery. The latter includes an interactive map of Merseyside that explores how and why places change.

Image: National Museums Liverpool