An artist's impression of a new public exhibition area

New exhibition images show slave forts on the coast of West Africa which were used for holding slaves prior to transportation to America

The cramped conditions inside the forts

John Hughes, the project manager for the refurbishment, and Jayne Tyler, head of professional services for Hull Museums

Through the keyhole

Hull in print takes a look behind the scenes at Wilberforce House, which reopens this month after a £1.6m refurbishment

His former home has been upgraded to become an 'interactive' museum dedicated to telling the story of the slave trade and its abolition.
It will be opened on Sunday March 25 by Owen Arthur, the Prime Minister of Barbados, who visits Hull exactly 200 years to the day that Wilberforce succeeded in banning the transatlantic slave trade.
"We completely stripped the building and installed new lighting, wiring, computer networking facilities and a lift for disabled access," says John Hughes, the project manager for the refurbishment.
The Grade I listed building, in High Street, is one of Hull's eight free museums provided by Hull City Council.
It closed in August 2005 to undergo the refurbishment, which has been financed by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the European Regional Development Fund.
The museum will have interactive touch-screens and visitors will carry handsets ('personal digital assistants') to help them focus on information that interests them.
There will be exhibits about Wilberforce the man, his religious beliefs and, for the first time, his personal library and handwritten letters can be seen.
African cultural artefacts will be on display, and there will be a look at how slavery and human rights abuses are still issues in the world today.
"If William Wilberforce was alive today, I'm sure he would approve of what has been an imaginative refurbishment of his former home," says Jayne Tyler, head of professional services for Hull Museums and a former curator of Wilberforce House for 13 years.
In advance of the refurbishment work, Jayne took part in public consultations which asked visitors how they would like a revamped museum to look.
"We had lots of positive feedback and incorporated the comments and suggestions we received into the refurbishment plans. Now we're looking forward to seeing the reaction of visitors to the new displays."
Members of the public are invited to visit from Sunday March 25, from 2.30pm.

William Wilberforce (below), and the room where he was born William Wilberforce – know the facts He was born in Wilberforce House in 1759 to a wealthy merchant family. He was educated at Hull Grammar School, now the Hands on History Museum, opposite Holy Trinity Church. At Cambridge University he was known for his carefree approach to life, but his conversion to evangelical Christianity fuelled his campaign against the slave trade. Wilberforce became MP for Hull at the age of 21 and overcame years of setbacks to get the Abolition of the Slave Trade Bill through Parliament in 1807. He married Barbara Ann, the daughter of a Warwickshire banker, and they had six children - four boys and two girls. He died on 29 July 1833 after suffering from influenza and is buried in Westminster Abbey.