LIVERPOOL WATERFRONT & DOCKS MUSEUM

In 2004, Liverpool's waterfront was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site, reflecting the city's importance in the development of the world's trading system and dock technology. The docks are central to Liverpool's history, with the best-known being Albert Dock: the first enclosed, non-combustible dock warehouse system in the world and is built in cast iron, brick and stone.

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It was designed by Jesse Hartley. Restored in the 1980s, the Albert Dock is the largest collection of Grade I listed buildings in Britain. Part of the old dock complex is now the home to the Merseyside Maritime Museum (an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial Heritage), the International Slavery Museum and the Tate Liverpool.

Other relics of the dock system include the Stanley Dock Tobacco Warehouse, which at the time of its construction in 1901, was the world's largest building in terms of area, and is still the world's largest brick-work building. Also the ill-fated passenger liner RMS Titanic was registered in Liverpool.

The Pier Head is the most famous image of Liverpool, the location of the Three Graces (a fairly recent phrase), three of Liverpool's most recognisable buildings. In ordefrom north to south they are:

• The Royal Liver Building, built in the early 1900s and surmounted by two bronze domes with a Liver Bird (the symbol of Liverpool) on each.
  
• The Cunard Building, the headquarters of the former Cunard shipping company.
  
• The Port of Liverpool Building, the home of the former Mersey Docks and Harbour Board which regulated the city's docks.