Manchester Art Gallery

Manchester Art Gallery stands in Manchester city centre on Mosley Street. The main building was completed in 1823 for a learned society and now holds three linked structures. Two of these were designed by Sir Charles Barry in the 19th century and are Grade I and II* listed. The third, added in 2002, connects the older parts and was designed by Hopkins Architects after a RIBA competition. The gallery occupies a prominent corner site with a rusticated ashlar façade and a pedimented portico of six Ionic columns. Inside, a lantern above the entrance hall lights the original hall. The gallery is worth visiting for its nationally significant collection and lively public role. Over half a million people came in one year, drawn by more than 25,000 objects. It began in 1823 as the Royal Manchester Institution and opened to the public ten years later. The collection grew with purchases, gifts and bequests from local industrialists in the 19th century. In 1913 three women damaged thirteen paintings during a suffrage protest, an episode now part of the gallery’s history. Inside, visitors find wide-ranging displays across three buildings. The main gallery holds Pre-Raphaelite works and Victorian decorative art. A room shows French Impressionist paintings by Pierre Adolphe Valette alongside a Cézanne, revealing shared misty atmospheres. Lowry’s Piccadilly Gardens hangs nearby, reflecting his student days under Valette. Decorative arts include glass, silver and furniture by William Burges, while the oldest object is an Egyptian canopic jar from about 1100 BC.