The People’s History Museum: Ideas are worth fighting for

This spring, after a £12.5m redevelopment that includes the construction of an entirely new wing and the overhaul of the Grade II listed Pump House, the People’s History Museum re-opens for business. ‘This is a museum that matters to everyone,’ says Deputy Director Andy Pearce. ‘It tells the story of the march towards British democracy – it’s the only place in the UK that does that.’ The building itself is a showstopper. Made of Corten steel, its striking rusty façade provides a contrast to its glass-and-steel or Portland stone neighbours. And form follows function: the museum’s largely windowless upper floors are wrapped in steel to provide the climate-controlled home for its collection. The ground floor is, however, glass-fronted, enticing passers-by inside and providing the building’s hub (this is where you’ll find the riverfront café, for example). ‘The change from the ground floor, which is light and airy, to the darker museum area, is deliberate. It creates the sense of an Aladdin’s cave,’ says Pearce. The Museum itself has doubled in size, allowing more of its collection to be on display, while the galleries trace a path through 200 years of political campaigning, from the Suffragette movement to the Trade Union movement. And the Museum opens with Carried Away, an exhibition that takes a sideways look at protest over the past 100 years: in it, it displays photographs of protestors such as the Suffragettes, many of whom were forcibly removed (or carried away) by the authorities they challenged.

Manchester is rightly excited about the re-opening of the Museum – this is a city that has had more than its fair share of political reform, and the story of national political change is often a Mancunian one, too. But the importance of the place goes way beyond local pride. ‘One of our trustees was the late Jack Jones, a man who fought in the Spanish Civil War and was a trade union leader,’ says Pearce. ‘He used to remind people that “votes didn’t fall off the Christmas tree”. The right to vote had to be fought for, it had to be won – and we tell that story.’

Read Andrew Shanahan’s exclusive preview of the Museum’s opening and its first exhibition, Carried Away.

The People’s History Museum, Left Bank, Spinningfields M3 3ER (0161 838 9190). Re-opens 13 February (note that 13 Feb-5 Mar is a ’soft launch’ period so there may be ongoing work in the museum; 6 Mar is its ‘official’ opening date. Please bear with the museum during these first few weeks as it makes its final tweaks and polishes). Open: 10am-5pm daily. Free.

Return to the city guides home page