The Whitworth

The Whitworth’s recent £15 million development which has doubled the gallery in size and created new spaces that embrace the park it calls home is recent winner of Visit England’s gold prize for Large Visitor Attraction of the Year 2016 and winner of the Art Fund’s Museum of the Year 2015 no less.

Originally founded in 1889 as the first English gallery in a park in memory of the industrialist Sir Joseph Whitworth, “for the perpetual gratification of the people of Manchester” its contemporary exhibitions programme and international collections have recently catapulted The Whitworth into the international art world orbit.  Yet the gallery’s recent success also reflects its founding ambitions from when it first opened in 1908 with two of the world’s great collections: British watercolours and drawings, and world textiles.

An art garden designed by Sarah Price, sculpture terrace and orchard garden, alongside new spaces that embrace the park, such as the landscape gallery and the café in the trees make The Whitworth a tranquil place to visit yet welcoming to families.

A programme of free events that explore the exhibitions programme but also art and nature, with activities such as Welly Walks, messy play sessions (inspired by the natural world) and self-guided trails around the park.