‘Changing Leicester’ is a new, insightful exhibition, that has opened at the Newarke Houses Museum on 1st July, Saturday, and will run until 10th September. The free exhibition will explore the changing face of the city since World War II, using archive images, oral history and archaeology, with a look at how attitudes of people have changed towards heritage in the last seventy years.
There has been increasing interest in Leicester’s 200-year history, since the discovery of King Richrd III’s body here. The exhibition will be looking at the role of Konrad Smigielski, the controversial post-war planner and his radical plans for Leicester. He was a city planning officer in the 1960s, when Leicester city centre was given major changes, with addition of underpasses, flyovers and an inner ring road.
It will also see how archaeologists and conservationists have protected the city’s heritage in an age of rapid development. It will feature the pictures and memories of the city’s landmarks, lost and found, alongside objects that never have been displayed earlier. The project ‘Changing Leicester’ is a partnership between Leicestershire Archaeological & Historical Society and Leicester City Council, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Yolanda Courtney of the society said they are delighted with the funding and think they have created an exhibition and programme of events that people here and from afar will find informative and stimulating. Assistant mayor, Councillor Piara Singh Clair, responsible for culture, leisure and sport, said that Leicester Arts and Museums has been able to put up an excellent exhibition on the city’s development since the war, on the heritage lost and found, on how the citizens have worked to save many of the buildings they love, thanks to the partnership approach.
‘Changing Leicester’ has a big programme of free events for the summer, featuring talks and lectures, family activities, heritage walks, audio tours, sketching sessions and photography exhibitions. More details are available at the site- storyofleicester.info/ChangingLeicester.
