ROYAL artefacts including a crown and a coffin pall have been relocated to the city’s King Richard III Visitor Centre, whilst restoration work is carried out at the monarch’s final resting place.
The items are currently on display at the centre, whilst £12.7m worth of restoration work is carried out at Leicester Cathedral, where King Richard III’s remains were reinterred back in 2015.
The embroidered pall (pictured) was designed by textile artist Jacqui Binns, who was commissioned by Leicester Cathedral to create the piece back in 2013.
It features representations of people from the time of Richard III, as well as people who were significant in the work to find and rebury him.
The crown, which sits above the pall was designed and commissioned by Dr John Ashdown-Hill.
Rachel Ayrton learning and interpretation manager at KRIII Visitor Centre, said that the facility was honoured to be hosting the artefacts, until the cathedral reopens in the Autumn.
“We’re really honoured to be able to look after these for the cathedral and to continue to display them to our visitors,” she told Pukaar News.
“We’re also really pleased that we’ve been able to put them in a position that’s just a few steps away from where Richard’s remains were discovered back in 2012.
“The embroidery on the pall is gorgeous and every time I walk past I have a little look and see something new,” she added.
“We’ve only had them here on display to the public for a week, but they’ve certainly been generating a lot of positive feedback, both from our staff, our volunteers and our visitors.”
The visitor’s centre itself is also set for investment later this year, when a new ‘immersive experience’ arrives at the award winning attraction.
Visitors will be able to enjoy a view of the long-gone medieval Greyfriars friary – where the king was hastily buried in 1485 – thanks to augmented reality technology.
With the visitor centre’s Greyfriars site now designated as a scheduled monument by Historic England, Leicester City Council hopes to incorporate the medieval friary’s story into a completely redesigned visitor experience, subject to funding being available, over the coming years. This will reflect new research and understanding gained over the past seven years to help inform the proposed changes.
“We hope to be able to recreate what the Friary looked like using augmented reality, so that visitors can look at modern day Leicester, but at the flick of a switch, see medieval Leicester and see what the Friary looked like in the medieval town at the time,” revealed Ms Ayrton.
“We hope it will be open by the summer, in time for the school summer holidays this year.”
To find out more, visit: www.kriii.com
Louise Steel
