Entering the Titanic exhibit, visitors are teleported back into the early 1900s. Everyone is given a ticket to board the Titanic, which lists their name, family, class, reason for traveling and a random passenger fact.

"Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition," which is currently on display at the Milwaukee Public Museum, 800 W. Wells St., uses photographs, stories and actual artifacts from the sunken ship to tell the story of one of the greatest maritime disasters in history.

More than 5,000 artifacts that have been recovered from the Titanic and 270 of them have come to Milwaukee to tell the stories of the passengers and crew.

"The most important mission is to take the artifacts and use them to tell stories," said Mary Bridges, the director of marketing and communications for the Milwaukee Public Museum.

The exhibit begins with an explanation about the creation of the Titanic. Using 3-D models, 2-D diagrams and photographs from the time, the construction of the Titanic is broken down to show various parts of the ship. There is also a video that shows the actual creation. The ship ended up being 1/6 of a mile long and a story high. It was meant to carry more than 2,000 passengers and on its maiden and final voyage, it carried 2,228 passengers.

The story of the Titanic is highlighted by the fact that it only carried 16 lifeboats, which is shocking by current standards. However, the exhibit explains about how this actually exceeded the requirements of the time and the sinking of the Titanic was what created major changes in ship regulations, including the creation of the International Ice Patrol. Since its creation, there have been no lives lost from collisions with icebergs in monitored areas.

Cheryl Mure, education director for the exhibit touring firm Premier Exhibitions, said a lot of the artifacts were kept intact so well because anything kept in leather was protected for the decades it spent underwater. So things like money kept in leather wallets and simple objects like pens and clothing were maintained enough to be salvaged. Even some of the more unusual objects like a champagne bottle, with the original champagne still inside, is on display at the museum.

One part of the exhibit recreates two separate cabins, one first class and the other third class. The first class room is decorated with a vibrant red and gold design with a bed, couch, table and chair with authentic pen and ink displayed to give the feel of what it looked like with a passenger occupying it. According to the sign, a ticket for this room cost $2,500 then or $43,860 now.

The third class cabin, which was mostly filled with European immigrants traveling to the United States, cost $35 then, or $620 now, and was cramped and very plain in style. There were four beds to a cabin, with pipes and support beams in plain sight.

The museum was not able to accommodate the actual grand staircase because of space limitations, but they did their best to recreate the feeling with a wall mural of the staircase and one of the original cherubs.

Another highlight in the exhibit is the ice wall, which visitors are encouraged to touch to give an indication of the -2 degrees Celsius water in the North Atlantic on that April night.

Mure said she believes the focal point in the exhibit is the two-ton piece of the ship's hull that was broken off the original ship in order to conserve it before it rusts and erodes away. Next to the hull are display cases with accompanying pictures of the artifacts underwater. The display cases are filled with a wide variety of objects including part of a bench, au gratin dishes, a chandelier and a porthole.

At the very end of the exhibit, there is a list of all of every passenger on the Titanic's maiden voyage and if they survived. The museum also adds a Milwaukee twist to the exhibit by featuring two local shipwreck stories, including the story of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, which Milwaukee Public Museum President Dan Finley called the "Titanic of the Great Lakes."

Mure said there are still 12,500 artifacts below the surface and that they are hoping to recover as much of it as possible before it is too late.

"I know that in our lifetime, the Titanic will collapse on itself," she said.

"Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition," will be on display at the Milwaukee Public Museum through May 25, 2009. Tickets are $21 for adults and $18 with a college I.D. Monday through Friday. Saturday and Sunday it is $24 for an adult and $20 with a college I.D.