Explore Manchester

The John Rylands Library is a neo-Gothic library on Deansgate in Manchester, designed by Basil Champneys and opened in 1900 by Enriqueta Rylands in memory of her husband John. Part of the University of Manchester since 1972, it holds special collections including a Gutenberg Bible and the Rylands Papyrus P52, and visitors can see its vaulted reading room and exhibitions.

Manchester Art Gallery is the city's public art museum on Mosley Street, run by Manchester City Council. Its main building, with an Ionic portico by Sir Charles Barry, was built between 1824 and 1835 for the Royal Manchester Institution and is linked to Barry's Athenaeum by a 2002 extension by Hopkins Architects. The collection holds more than 25,000 objects.

The People's History Museum is Britain's national museum of the history of working people and democracy, on the River Irwell in Manchester. It occupies a former hydraulic pumping station and a four-storey extension opened in 2010, and its displays cover topics from the Peterloo Massacre and trade unions to women's suffrage and the 1945 election.

Manchester Cathedral is the Anglican cathedral and parish church of Manchester, a Grade I listed building on Victoria Street. Rebuilt in Perpendicular Gothic style after 1421, it keeps late-medieval carved choir stalls and a nave roof with angels holding gilded instruments; it became a cathedral in 1847 and was restored after bomb damage in the Second World War.

The Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, part of the Science Museum Group, stands on the site of Liverpool Road station, opened in 1830 as the Manchester terminus of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the first inter-city passenger line. Its galleries cover textiles, steam and electric power, railways, communications and computing.

The National Football Museum is England's national museum of football, housed since 2012 in Urbis, a sloping glass building by Ian Simpson in Manchester's Cathedral Gardens. Moved from Deepdale in Preston, it fills four floors with collections such as the 1863 rule book of the Football Association, club displays and interactive games.

The Etihad Stadium in east Manchester is the home ground of Manchester City, built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games and converted to a football stadium in 2003. Designed by Arup, its cable-stayed roof hangs from twelve exterior masts; after the North Stand redevelopment it holds about 61,000 spectators, and the club runs guided stadium tours.

Imperial War Museum North is a branch of the Imperial War Museum on the Manchester Ship Canal at Trafford Wharf, facing Salford Quays. Daniel Libeskind designed it as three shards of a shattered globe; it opened in 2002, and its curved main gallery traces conflicts from 1914 to today with objects such as a T-34 tank and a Harrier jet.

The Coronation Street Experience offers guided tours of the outdoor set of the ITV soap opera Coronation Street at ITV's Trafford Wharf studios, beside the Imperial War Museum North at MediaCityUK. Visitors walk the cobbled street past the Rovers Return and the terraced houses used since 2013, and see an exhibition of props from the show.

LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Manchester is an indoor LEGO attraction in the Trafford Palazzo complex beside the Trafford Centre, west of Manchester city centre. It has a Miniland of north-west England landmarks built from LEGO bricks, including Blackpool Tower, as well as the Kingdom Quest ride, a 4D cinema and play areas.

RHS Garden Bridgewater is the Royal Horticultural Society's fifth public garden, opened in 2021 on the former Worsley New Hall estate in Worsley, Salford, west of Manchester. Its 62 hectares, planned by landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith, include the Weston Walled Garden, the Paradise Garden, a Chinese streamside garden and lakes, with the Bridgewater Canal along the south.