This guide links three Liverpool landmarks that tell the story of a port city open to the world: the World Museum on William Brown Street, Tate Liverpool at the Royal Albert Dock and the Nordic Church, built for Scandinavian sailors and emigrants. We have added two scavenger hunt stops that lie on the way: St George's Hall, opposite the World Museum, and the Three Graces at Pier Head. All five are linked by one walk from the city centre down to the waterfront.
World Museum
The World Museum grew out of a gift: in 1851 the 13th Earl of Derby left his natural history collection to the people of Liverpool, and the museum building on William Brown Street opened in 1860, paid for by the merchant William Brown, after whom the street is named. In May 1941 German bombs badly damaged the building during the Liverpool Blitz, and many objects were lost. Today it covers natural history, archaeology, world cultures and space, and it is the first stop of our Liverpool scavenger hunt.
- The ancient Egypt galleries, with mummies, coffins and everyday objects.
- The aquarium and the bug house, popular with children.
- The planetarium, with shows about the night sky.
St George's Hall
Across the road stands St George's Hall, one of the finest neoclassical buildings in Britain. Harvey Lonsdale Elmes won the competition to design it while still in his twenties but died in 1847, before it was finished, and Charles Cockerell completed the interiors. The hall opened in 1854, combining a great concert hall with law courts under one roof. It is a scavenger hunt stop.
- The floor of the Great Hall, made of more than 30,000 Minton tiles, which is usually covered to protect it and only uncovered on special occasions.
The Three Graces at Pier Head
On the river at Pier Head stand the three buildings Liverpool calls the Three Graces: the Port of Liverpool Building, finished in 1907, the Royal Liver Building of 1911 and the Cunard Building, completed in 1917 for the shipping line. The Royal Liver Building was one of the first large buildings in the world made of reinforced concrete, and its two clock towers carry the Liver Birds, the city's symbol. A popular legend says that if the birds ever fly away, Liverpool will cease to exist. Pier Head is a stop on the scavenger hunt; the waterfront was a UNESCO World Heritage Site from 2004 until it was removed from the list in 2021.
- The two copper Liver Birds on top of the Royal Liver Building, one looking out to sea and one looking over the city.
Tate Liverpool
Down at the waterfront, Tate Liverpool opened on 24 May 1988 in a converted warehouse at the Royal Albert Dock, redesigned by the architect James Stirling. It was the first Tate gallery outside London and showed modern and contemporary art from the national collection. The Albert Dock itself, opened in 1846, was built of brick, iron and stone so that its warehouses could not burn, and it is the largest group of Grade I listed buildings in the country.
Tate Liverpool closed in October 2023 for a major refurbishment, and its reopening has been postponed to spring 2027; until then it runs a temporary programme at RIBA North on Mann Island, a short walk away. Check before you go. The gallery is one of the scavenger hunt stops, and you can still see its dockside warehouse from outside.
- The red-brick warehouses and cast-iron columns of the Albert Dock, reflected in the water of the dock basin.
- The view from the dock towards the Three Graces at Pier Head.
Nordic Church
A short walk south of the Albert Dock, on Park Lane, stands Gustav Adolfs Kyrka, the Nordic Church. It was built in 1883–84 for Scandinavian sailors and for the many emigrants from Norway, Sweden and Denmark who passed through Liverpool on their way to America. Many of them had crossed the North Sea to Hull and then taken the train across England to board their ships here. It was the first independent church commission of W. D. Caröe, a Liverpool-born architect of Danish descent, who went on to design many churches.
Today the Grade II* listed building is both a church and a centre for Liverpool's Nordic community, and it is a stop on the scavenger hunt. Its red-brick shape, with a steep roof and a central lantern, stands out among the warehouses and modern blocks around it.
- The octagonal lantern rising behind the main gable, a little like the Scandinavian churches that inspired it.
- Inside, five plaster reliefs by Robert Anning Bell that once formed the altarpiece, and two sculptures of Christ and the Madonna by the Liverpool artist Arthur Dooley.
How to see them in one walk
Start at the World Museum on William Brown Street and cross to St George's Hall. From there, walk down through the city centre past the Cavern Club on Mathew Street, where the Beatles played many of their early shows (the original cellar was demolished in the 1970s and the club rebuilt close by), to Pier Head and the Three Graces, then along the river to the Royal Albert Dock and Tate Liverpool. Finish with the short walk south to the Nordic Church on Park Lane. From there, Chinatown and Liverpool Cathedral, the last stops of the scavenger hunt, are close by.
See Liverpool with World City Trail
Our Liverpool scavenger hunt turns the city into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops, from the World Museum to Liverpool Cathedral, and all five places in this guide are among them: the World Museum, St George's Hall, the Three Graces at Pier Head, Tate Liverpool and the Nordic Church.
If you prefer a different format, there is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Liverpool.
Play the Liverpool scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Liverpool →
Play the outdoor escape game in Liverpool →
Facts checked in October 2026.