Romans vs. Spacemen at MOSI

The insider guide to family holidays and things to do with kids – at Manchester’s MOSI

If you like your outdoors a little more urban, make for Castlefield. This ‘urban heritage park’ embodies Manchester’s history in its architecture: Roman ruins, Industrial Revolution cobbles and canals, Victorian viaducts, contemporary bridges…. Largely traffic-free, it’s a great place to leg it about, while its canal-side pubs and restaurants are reliably good.

Once you’ve exhausted Castlefield’s cobbled delights, head to MOSI (the Museum of Science & Industry). Built on the site of the world’s oldest surviving passenger railway station, five of its original listed buildings still stand. Converted into a museum in the early 1980s, this extensive former railway complex is now the city’s most visited museum, for good reason. For a start, the significance of the place can’t be underestimated: it was here, on 15 September 1830, that 50,000 onlookers gathered to witness the first ever run on the newly laid Manchester to Liverpool tracks. Although the day wasn’t without its dramas (including the death of William Huskisson, who slipped and fell into the path of the oncoming train), it did, as the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company hoped, change British industrial travel forever. Luckily for you, you can recreate this slice of industrial history (or at least indulge your inner trainspotter) by riding the steam train that still runs along part of the original tracks – trains run most days, though expect queues during busy periods.

Permanent collections aside, one of the star attractions at MOSI is an exhibition of the life and work of Leonardo Da Vinci. The ultimate polymath, Leonardo was fascinated as much by science as by art, writing on subjects as diverse as geometry, human anatomy, philosophy and flora and fauna. He famously came up with detailed plans for a helicopter, military tank, parachute, automobile and submarine – creations that were hundreds of years ahead of their time. These and other inventions have been brought to life as large-scale interactive machines as part of Da Vinci – The Genius, the most comprehensive touring exhibition ever dedicated to this remarkable artist. Ten years in the making, the exhibition features a revolutionary, 240 megapixel Multi-Spectral Imaging Camera, used to uncover new facts about the world’s most famous painting, including the true identity of the woman behind the portrait. The centrepiece of the show is what has been described as the ‘world’s only 360-degree walk-around replica of the Mona Lisa’, which enables visitors to see the reverse of the painting. Still not convinced? Read our, er, ‘exclusive’ interview with Da Vinci himself, a man who hasn’t let several hundreds years of being dead get in the way of good press coverage.

Finally, if all that doesn’t exhaust you, there’s one more reason to visit MOSI this summer: the glimpse into lunar exploits offered in From Gunpowder to Space Rockets, a showcase of the Chinese space race that ranges from ancient rockets to satellites, space ships and a lunar rover. It’s quite literally out of this world. Ahem. Da Vinci – The Genius, MOSI. Until 12 September. £7.50/£5/£20 family ticket. From Gunpowder to Space Rockets, MOSI. Until 7 August. Free entry.

> Get 15% off purchases in the MOSI online shop! You know you won’t escape a trip to MOSI without being dragged into the gift shop, so pre-empt till-side scuffles with a visit to MOSI’s online shop. Download this special MOSI voucher and get 15% off all online purchases. For more free downloads, special offers and competitions, visit our download page.

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Images: main and thumbnails, courtesy MOSI; bottom, courtesy Susie Stubbs