LONDON (Reuters) - A trust devoted to conserving the heritage of German-born composer Georg Friedrich Handel said on Wednesday it had raised 500,000 pounds ($835,000) to convert his former London home into a museum. The owners of the house where Handel crafted his famous "Messiah" had insisted the trust raise 250,000 pounds by March 1 before they would agree to sell, said the trust`s Julie Annesadie. "Our intention is to open the museum as soon as possible. We do have the money to buy the house and we`ve now got the money to fix it," she said, adding that a total of 2.9 million pounds had been raised since 1995 for the project. The museum, expected to include a reference library and an education centre, is envisaged to open in April 2000 in central London`s Brook Street. Handel, born in Halle, Germany in 1685, became a British citizen in 1726. He lived in London home from 1723 until his death in 1759.