National Museums Liverpool (NML) has announced plans to launch a £10m international slave trade museum in 2007 – the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the British slave trade.

The Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded £1.65m to the first phase of the project, which will provide dynamic new displays addressing issues such as freedom, identity and cultural change.

Phase two – which is due for completion in 2009 – will involve the creation of a new visitor-focused resource centre with an events programme of performance, public lectures and debate.

Loyd Grossman, chair of NML, said: “This new museum will aim to challenge preconceptions and will address issues which are of relevance to everyone today.”

Director David Fleming added: “It is important that this new museum is in this city and that the story of Liverpool’s crucial role in the transatlantic slave trade is told well.

“It will demonstrate that this is a grown up city, able to address uncomfortable and disturbing truths about its past, even as we celebrate Liverpool’s status as a European Capital of Culture.”

The new museum – which has the working title of the National Museum and Centre for the Understanding of Transatlantic Slavery – will be linked to the Merseyside Maritime Museum, which currently houses a gallery on slavery. Details: www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk