In the museum’s Hintze Hall, the huge dinosaur skeleton that hung from the ceiling has been taken down, and when the space reopens this summer a gigantic blue whale skeleton will be in its place. The real 25-metre (82-foot) whale skeleton is being assembled by an expert team of scientists, conservators, designers and engineers.

The Forever Project is using advanced digital technologies to record Holocaust survivors telling their stories, so that future visitors will be able to engage with them by listening to them and even asking questions and hearing them giving their answers. Ten survivors’ testimonies were filmed in high-definition 3D in 2015/16 for this digital heritage project, and visitors will be able to “meet” them this summer.

The museum, which opened in May 2016, recreates past social and physical settings, incorporating interior exhibitions and outdoor courtyards to immerse visitors in the daily life of yesterday’s Helsinki.

Mary Rose Revealed marks the unveiling of the Mary Rose warship some 471 years after its sinking. The ship has undergone millions of pounds worth of restoration and conservation treatment over the past 23 years, including cutting-edge innovations that have been keenly watched by the heritage sector.

A 17th-century fire engine was restored as part of last year’s Great Fire of London exhibition, Fire! Fire!. Very little remained of the 1670s fire truck, but expert coachbuilders were able to rebuild it working from a 19th-century photograph of the artefact, taken when it was still intact.

Ten major new galleries, focusing on decorative art, design, fashion science and technology, have opened at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, following a £14.1 million redevelopment. Over 3,000 artefacts are housed in the galleries, which also feature more than 150 interactive exhibits and working machines.

Shakespeare’s New Place allows visitors to walk in the shoes of the Bard, learning about his homelife in Stratford-upon-Avon. A new bronze gateway, a sculpture garden and exhibition help narrate the story of the place where the playwright lived for almost 20 years.

La Cité du Vin is a new cultural wine centre in Bordeaux, France, celebrating the history of winemaking. The building’s curving form was designed by architects Anouk Legendre and Nicolas Desmazièresto, and the exhibition – with 22 large-scale displays and installations, blending audio-visual, sensory and digital technology – was designed by Casson Mann.

The Llechwedd Deep Mine Tour, which launched in March 2016 near Blaenau Ffestiniog in Snowdonia, is a digital – and harshly realistic – re-telling of the Victorian slate industry that once thrived in North Wales. Deep underground, augmented reality, light and video projections, 3D audio and special effects are used to illustrate the daily lives of the mine’s workers.

At the National Trust’s Croome property, Potter and Ponder is a sensory experience designed for children with disabilities and their parents. The project used sensory stimulus to bring to life in unconventional ways the landscape and story of Croome. The experience is steered by a specially commissioned sensory map.