travelling-blogger

comments

The discovery of the remains of Richard III in a council car park in Leicester in 2012 has seen the number of visitors to the county soaring.

The number of tourists flocking to Leicestershire rose from 28.7 million to 29.5 million, according to tourist chiefs for the county.

In addition the turnover of leisure businesses such as hotels and visitor attractions shot up by 6.2 per cent from £1.39 billion in 2012 to £1.48 billion in 2013, and with a new Richard III visitor centre opening next month and a planned reburial of the king next year, the increase is expected to continue.

'My kingdom for a horse:' Visitor numbers have soared in Leicestershire, where the remains of Richard III were discovered

Leicestershire's tourism industry is growing much faster than in other East Midlands counties where the average growth was just 3.1 per cent, said Martin Peters, chief executive of Leicester Shire Promotions.

The new Richard III Centre will open on July 26 in the old Leicester Grammar School building at St Martin's Place, which is being transformed into the new exhibition.

The Victorian Gothic building has been renovated to create two floors of exhibition space and a new covered area will allow visitors access to the original grave site in which Richard's remains were discovered in August 2012.

The centre, entitled 'King Richard III: Dynasty, Death and Discovery,' will guide visitors through the dramatic story of the king's life, brutal death and the fascinating story of his rediscovery.

It will be told through state-of-the-art interactive displays and demonstrations and colourful hands-on exhibits.

Now is the carpark of our discontent: Archaeologists found the skeleton of Richard III during a dig in a council carpark in 2012

Archaeologists at the University of Leicester led the exhumation of the remains, which will form the centrepiece of the exhibition opening next month

Other notable features include a new courtyard garden, glass entrance hall and cafe. The exhibition will also include a glass balcony that will use technology to show visitors how the modern day view compares with that of the city in the Middle Ages.

Richard III's body received an unceremonious burial and the original tomb is believed to have been destroyed during the Reformation, with the remains being lost for more than five centuries.

In 2012, an archaeological excavation was undertaken on a city council car park in Leicester using ground-penetrating radar on the site once occupied by Greyfriars.

The University of Leicester confirmed in February 2013 that all the evidence pointed to the skeleton that had been found in the excavation being that of Richard III.

The scientists concluded it was the remains of the King who had died in 1485 using a combination of the radiocarbon dating, a comparison with contemporary reports of his appearance, and a comparison of his mitochondrial DNA with that of two matrilineal descendants of Richard III's eldest sister, Anne of York.

The public perception of Richard III, shaped by Shakespeare's play about the Plantagenet King, is of a bloodthirsty usurper who left a trail of bodies on the way to the throne. 

However when the Richard III society showed off the reconstructed face of the last English king to die in battle aged 32, to the public in February 2013, the face was declared too handsome to be that of a cold-blooded killer.