A colourful new gallery at a Bradford museum marks the city's ethnic mix and history.

The You Are Here gallery, designed with families and children in mind, is officially opened at Bradford Industrial Museum tomorrow.

The £20,000 display is a fusion of objects and artwork intended to capture the identity of the city.

Museum officer Janet Simmonds said it made the collection, in Moorside Road, Eccleshill, more accessible to a wider audience. She said: "We have a range of objects which are visually very exciting and very vibrant. You really have to see it to understand."

An eight-foot "coat of many cultures" takes centre-stage. It has been created over three months by children from Hanson School and Springwood Community Primary School.

Mrs Simmonds said: "It is made up of pictures of buildings, houses and self-portraits of the children, which are all in fabric."

Donations from different communities are showcased, including Irish rosary beads, a chappatti pan, a Dominican flag, Polish jam and sauerkraut, Ukrainian rye bread and traditional costumes from various cultures.

Mrs Simmonds has been thrilled by the positive response from local people. She said: "We rang up people, asking if they could help and whether they would like to represent their community. The reaction was amazing."

Other parts of the gallery feature a signed rugby ball donated by the Bradford Bulls and items from thriving local companies, such as tinned food from Morrisons, one of Grattan's famous catalogues and a Sky digibox from Pace Micro Technology.

So far, the gallery has been a hit with children, who have been attracted by the hands-on exhibits. Visitors can take rubbings from cast-iron machine plates, write their own memory of a journey on a luggage label, play a magnetic pack-a-suitcase game or dress up in a range of clothes.

The official opening takes place tomorrow at 2pm to the sounds of the Bradford-based Ukrainian Women's Choir. Also on offer is mendhi hand painting and a ride around the site in a bus drawn by the museum's heavy horses.

Bradford Council's executive member for regeneration, Councillor Simon Cooke, said: "This gallery celebrates the 'many views' which make up Bradford's landscape: the different communities and organisations that made Bradford's history and give the district its cultural vibrancy."

The gallery has been supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Bradford Vision, Yorkshire Museum, Libraries and Archives Council, npower, Education Bradford and the Friends of Bradford Art Galleries and Museums.