THE first exhibits have been installed at a revamped museum.

After two years of redevelopment work, curators at Sunderland Museum have begun to place items in the first of eight new galleries.

These are the Time Machine and Textile Traditions galleries, which are being created in the space formerly occupied by the lending section of Sunderland Library.

Time Machine shows many of the museum's most popular exhibits, from a massive section of rope made in the city to a 1920s diver's suit.

Some items will be on display for the first time, including the first Nissan car built in the city and an enormous wooden bottle of stout used by Vaux to advertise its products, given when the brewery closed in 1999.

Textile Traditions looks at traditional crafts of the North-East, including quilting and proggy mat making.

The displays are part of a £6m refit of the museum, which is due to open to the public in July. The construction of the new Winter Gardens is continuing alongside it.

The other galleries will include 20th Century Sunderland, and Secrets of the Past, which features prehistoric tools and a display on the Anglo-Saxon monastery of St Peter's. The Open Space community gallery will give local groups a chance to display their work.