Depending on how you look at it, there is either good or bad news about the Mary Rose.  The Mary Rose is the only only 16th century warship on display anywhere in the world. She was one of the first ships able to fire a broadside, and was a favorite of King Henry VIII.

The bad news is that her exhibit in Portsmouth is closing for three years.   The good news is that a new 35 million pound museum is being built to house her in the manner she so richly deserves.

Mary Rose prepares to rise again

This weekend was the public’s last chance to view the vessel historian Dr David Starkey described as “this country’s Pompeii”, before construction work begins on a new £35m purpose-built museum.

The modernistic centre, which will receive £21m from the Heritage Lottery Fund, will proudly display the Tudor warship close to Nelson’s flagship, the Victory.

It has been called one of the most ambitious and significant heritage projects in recent years.

Currently the ancient hull of the Mary Rose is constantly sprayed with a water-based wax solution to prevent the timbers drying out and rotting away.

Eventually this process will end, and by 2011 a long and complex programme will begin to “dry out” her ancient beams and ensure they are preserved forever. But the real change will be her setting.

The new museum complex will enable the public to “engage” with the ship in a way that is impossible in her current hall.