The Manchester Museum :: Shared Description

Manchester Museum displays works of archaeology, anthropology and natural history. It is owned by the University of Manchester is sited on Oxford Road at the heart of the university's group of neo-Gothic buildings.

The Manchester Museum started life with the purchase of the collection of the Manchester manufacturer John Leigh Philips and the creation of the Manchester Natural History Society in 1821. They displayed the collection in their Peter Street premises and in 1850 they added the collection of the Manchester Geological Society. Owens College (now the University of Manchester) accepted responsibility for the collections in 1867.

The college commissioned Alfred Waterhouse, the architect of the Town Hall and London's magnificent Natural History Museum, to design a museum to house the collections for the benefit of students and the public on a site in Oxford Road (then Oxford Street). The Manchester Museum was opened to the public in 1888. The 1912 extension, The Jesse Haworth pavilion, is Grade II-listed (English Heritage Building ID: 454842 LinkExternal link British Listed Buildings).

By the twentieth century, the collection was split into archaeology, botany, Egyptology, entomology, ethnography, mineralogy, palaeontology, numismatics and zoology, as well as live specimens in the aquarium and vivarium. Providing access to about 6 million items from every continent, it is now the UK's largest university museum and serves both as a major visitor attraction and as a resource for academic research and teaching. It has around 360,000 visitors each year (LinkExternal link The History of The Manchester Museum). The Gothic Revival street frontage which continues to the Whitworth Hall has been ingeniously integrated by three generations of the Waterhouse family.

In 1997 the Museum was awarded a £12.5 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and this, together with money from the European Regional Development Fund, the University of Manchester, the Wellcome Trust, The Wolfson Foundation and other sponsors enabled the Museum to refurbish and expand including the addition of a museum café in the former Dental School. The renewed museum opened in 2003 (LinkExternal link Manchester History Net).
by David Dixon
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20 images use this description:

SJ8496 : Manchester Museum by David Dixon
SJ8496 : Manchester Museum Vivarium, Cone-headed Lizard (Laemanctus longipes) by David Dixon
SJ8496 : Manchester Museum Entrance by David Dixon
SJ8496 : Manchester Museum - The Manchester Gallery by David Dixon
SJ8496 : Manchester Museum by David Dixon
SJ8496 : Stan the Tyrannosaurus rex by David Dixon
SJ8496 : Manchester Museum Vivarium, Strawberry Poison-dart Frog (Oophaga pumilio) by David Dixon
SJ8496 : Maharajah's Skeleton by David Dixon
SJ8496 : Living Worlds Gallery, Manchester Museum by David Dixon
SJ8496 : Manchester Museum Fossils Gallery by David Dixon
SJ8496 : Purple Crocus Bee by Gerald England
SJ8496 : Oxford Road by David Dixon
SJ8496 : Glacial Boulder, University Quadrangle by David Dixon
SJ8496 : Captured in Print by Gerald England
SJ8496 : Andesite Boulder outside Manchester Museum by David Dixon
SJ8496 : Manchester Museum Vivarium, Panther Chameleon (Furcifer pardalis ) by David Dixon
SJ8496 : Sperm Whale Skeleton, Living Worlds Gallery by David Dixon
SJ8496 : Manchester Museum Mineralogy Gallery by David Dixon
SJ8496 : Bee-autiful by Gerald England
SJ8496 : Egyptology Storeroom, Manchester Museum by David Dixon


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Created: Thu, 26 Feb 2015, Updated: Thu, 26 Feb 2015

The 'Shared Description' text on this page is Copyright 2015 David Dixon, however it is specifically licensed so that contributors can reuse it on their own images without restriction.

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