IT HAS taken 10 years of hard work, changing plans and legal wrangling to get here – and now at 10am today the £72m Museum of Liverpool will throw open its doors to the public.

Britain’s largest newly-built museum for a century will become the latest addition to the city’s Pier Head, exactly 100 years to the day after the launch of the Liver Building.

At 8.30am, 400 golden ticket holders, including 10 Daily Post competition winners, will enter the venue for the chance to explore it ahead of the crowds.

They include community groups and local people who have helped create the displays – either by lending or donating an object, or by sharing their memories of the city.

The building will be declared officially open during a “People’s Opening” starting at 10am, led by National Museums Liverpool chair Phil Redmond and NML director Dr David Fleming.

Mossley Hill six-year-old Finn O’Hare, representing the youngest generation of Liverpudlians, will cut a giant pink ribbon.

Prof Redmond said: “It is fitting that in Finn we have a regular Liverpool lad helping out at such a pivotal event in our city’s history.

“Liverpudlians across the ages have created a city with a host of tales to tell, and that is what the Museum of Liverpool is all about, and why we have chosen to celebrate with a People’s Opening.”

Today’s launch is the first of two phases and will see the opening of three main galleries: Wondrous Place, focusing on the city’s arts and sporting achievements; The People’s Republic, exploring the experience of living in Liverpool, and Global City, looking at Liverpool’s history as the second city of the British Empire.