Situated on Greyfriars in Leicester city centre, the King Richard III Visitor Centre occupies a converted Victorian school building – the former Alderman Newton’s School – immediately beside the car park where the remains of King Richard III were unearthed in August 2012. The £4 million centre, designed by Paul East of Maber Architects, opened on 26 July 2014 and tells the story of the king’s life, his death at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, and the remarkable sequence of events that led to the identification and reburial of his remains between 2012 and 2015.
The Discovery
For many years, the precise location of Richard III’s grave was unknown, though it was long assumed to lie somewhere beneath a Leicester car park on the site of the former Greyfriars friary. The excavation project, driven by Philippa Langley and the Richard III Society and carried out by the University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS), began on 25 August 2012. The remains were found on that very first day. DNA evidence subsequently confirmed their identity, drawing worldwide attention to Leicester and prompting Leicester City Council to transform the school building into a permanent visitor centre. The project includes a covered area directly over the original grave site, which lay in the choir of the medieval friary church, along with a preserved section of the choir floor itself.
Heritage Status and Recognition
The burial site is a scheduled monument. In December 2017, Historic England formally scheduled a significant portion of the former friary’s footprint, recognising its archaeological potential despite the long demolition of its associated buildings. The visitor centre received wider recognition in October 2018, when it was awarded Best Museum at the Group Leisure and Travel Awards – having been nominated alongside the British Museum and the National Railway Museum. The centre draws visitors from across the world who come to see the grave site, the exhibition on Richard III’s life and reign, and the story of one of the most unexpected archaeological finds in recent British history.