King Richard III Visitor Centre

What we've set out to do with this centre is to tell the story of Richard, the story of his period, the story of his death at Bosworth and then we move on 500 years and tell the story of the dig, his discovery and then his identification as well and then the visit will finish with a visit to the grave site itself where he was found. What we've got here is something that far exceeds any of my hopes and expectations. We've got some astonishingly imaginative work done by some very creative people who have used modern technology to take the history and to treat it very faithfully but to treat it in a way that is accessible by us in the 21st century. My first impressions of the visitor centre are a wow, this is a really great facility for the city and I think one of the things I'm particularly impressed about is the way in which they have told the story not just of Richard and the Wars of the Roses but also of the forensic investigation if you like into the skeleton and the archaeology surrounding it and actually displayed that in a way that makes sense to the non-scientists. I think it's absolutely wonderful. I think when the public come to see the visitor centre they'll get a real sense of Leicester's archaeology and often how hard-won it can be. Most of the things we do in Leicester are in connection with development so some very deep and complex archaeological sites are excavated all over the place in the city. When people come here they will actually see how difficult it can be to interpret these very intangible remains. There's some things in particular, I think the skeletal remains, being able to see this 3D reconstruction of the skeletal remains I think is going to be really really interesting. I know that's something my kids are going to be interested in seeing. And they've got the dig diary which basically shows about how the whole process went on for all of us and I think that's a really nice piece of work for people to see the work that we did. This is a centre for everybody of all ages, whether they be children, whether they be grandparents. There's so much to learn about Richard III, his family, the times, the Wars of the Roses, as well as the archaeology and the science that lay behind the evidencing. As one of the academics involved in the project, to a certain extent we thought that our work in a sense ended with the scientific results and to see the work that we did captured in this way which is therefore accessible to so many more people and will live on for years and years I just think is absolutely fantastic. It's been a huge amount of work for everybody involved in the project so to see all of it being brought together as the visitor centre it's really rewarding. It will also be something that has a sustainable future and it will continue to tell the story of Richard and the story of Leicester not just for months to come but for decades to come.