Story
The story of Manchester Art Gallery
The first work this collection ever acquired, bought in 1827, was James Northcote's painting 'A Moor', a portrait of the celebrated black actor Ira Aldridge – look out for it. The gallery grew from the Royal Manchester Institution, a scholarly society founded in 1823 that met in the grand building on Mosley Street, designed by Sir Charles Barry.
Ten years after it was founded, the society opened its galleries to the public, holding regular exhibitions and collecting fine art, and in 1882 its building and collection passed to the city. Today the gallery spreads across three connected buildings: two by Barry, and a modern link by Hopkins Architects that opened in 2002 after a major expansion.
It holds more than 25,000 objects of local and international importance, and more than half a million people visit in a year. Entry is free, and it is open six days a week – just remember that it is closed on Mondays.
This story is compiled from Wikipedia and other open sources; dates and numbers are checked against the source. The text is shared under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Source ↗
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