News

Council-run museums and galleries in Leeds have generated a staggering £41.7m for the local economy in the last year, a new report has revealed.

Compiled by Leeds Museums and Galleries, the impressive economic impact report shows the popular visitor attractions have also given a big boost to local jobs as well as supporting businesses and schools.

Three generations inspired by the story of their Suffragette ancestor have been reunited with the stunning wedding dress she wore more than a century ago.

The descendants of Leeds schoolmistress Lily Cathcart travelled to the Leeds Discovery Centre, where they viewed their precious family heirloom, donated to the museum by Lily’s daughters Bessie, Jean and Isabel in the early 1970s.

A collection of vintage sailor suits designed to ensure stylish Victorian children looked ship shape has been revealed by museum experts in Leeds.

The eye-catching naval attire includes a classic range of blue and white outfits, dresses and bellbottom trousers, looks which became hugely popular for children during the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

A centuries-old court report from the infamous trial of King Charles I will be revealed later this month during a fascinating event in Leeds.

The remarkable book was created more than 360 years ago, and recounts in exhaustive detail the unprecedented week-long trial in 1649, which saw the King convicted of tyranny and treason and sentenced to death in the aftermath of the English Civil War.

An eye-catching Leeds sculpture is walking away after six years on City Square, leaving behind a lasting public art legacy.

Legs Walking has been a feature on the square ever since it was kindly loaned to the city by a private collector in 2018.

The owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, has now asked for it to be returned, which will see the colourful sculpture carefully removed from beside the Mill Hill Chapel this week. The sculpture will remain on public display in a yet-to-be-announced new location in Yorkshire.

A daring depiction of the famous Thames waterside has travelled from Leeds to London for a new exhibition showcasing the capital’s unique influence on artists around the world.

Leeds Art Gallery’s bold and colourful Barges on the Thames shocked Edwardian art lovers when it was unveiled in 1906 by trailblazing Parisian artist André Derain.

A collection of nostalgic images is putting Leeds back in the saddle ahead of the ten year anniversary of the city hosting the world’s biggest cycling event.

The stunning selection of photos recalls just some of the once-in-a-lifetime memories created when Leeds was the setting for the Grand Depart of the Tour de France a decade ago.

Trees across Leeds city centre are being brought to life as unique characters this summer thanks to a playful new art installation. 

A spectacular lion-shaped coffin is among the colourful and eye-catching objects from around the world helping museum goers in Leeds to think differently about death.

Leeds City Museum’s Living with Death exhibition, which opens today (May 3) features a remarkable array of objects spanning thousands of years of world history and tradition which all explore how different cultures experience death, dying, and bereavement.

His friendly face and super-sized smile have made him a favourite fixture for visitors to Leeds Discovery Centre.

But as he approaches 100 years old, the decades have finally started to take their toll on much-loved Billie the hippo, who has begun to show some inevitable signs of wear and tear.

The American ancestor of a 19^th century railway worker has rediscovered a fascinating family connection to a dramatic Leeds explosion with the help of the world’s oldest model locomotive.

Lisa Roger journeyed more than 5,000 miles from her home in Phoenix, Arizona to Leeds Industrial Museum to see the attraction’s remarkably detailed model of Salamanca, made by the city’s famed engineer Matthew Murray.

An ancient lead coffin which lay buried in a Leeds field for more than 1,600 years is set to be revealed to the public for the first time.

The astonishing discovery, described by experts as a once-in-a-lifetime find, was made during excavation work by West Yorkshire Archaeological Services in a previously unknown site near Garforth.