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Europe United Kingdom Manchester Art & Culture The Whitworth

Overview

The Whitworth

The guide was updated: 2025-12-02

The Whitworth gallery, located within Whitworth Park and part of the University of Manchester, is home to an internationally important collection of more than 60,000 works, including fine art, textiles, wallpapers, and British watercolours. Following a £15 million redevelopment, the gallery now integrates beautifully with the park, featuring an art garden by Sarah Price, a sculpture terrace, an orchard garden, and a café set among the trees.

Useful Information

Address: Oxford Road, Manchester
Opening hours: Tue, Wed & Fri–Sun 10am–5pm; Thu 10am–9pm, Mon closed
Website: www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk
Phone: +44 161 275 7450
Email: whitworth@manchester.ac.uk

Our travel guides are free to read and explore online. If you want to get your own copy, the full travel guide for this destination is available to you offline* to bring along anywhere or print for your trip.

*this will be downloaded as a PDF.

Price

€4,95

Purchase

The Whitworth

The Whitworth

The Whitworth gallery, located within Whitworth Park and part of the University of Manchester, is home to an internationally important collection of more than 60,000 works, including fine art, textiles, wallpapers, and British watercolours. Following a £15 million redevelopment, the gallery now integrates beautifully with the park, featuring an art garden by Sarah Price, a sculpture terrace, an orchard garden, and a café set among the trees.

Science & Industry Museum

Science & Industry Museum

The Science & Industry Museum explores Manchester’s role in industrial, scientific, and technological history. Highlights include the world’s oldest surviving passenger railway station and the first railway warehouse, both dating back to 1830. Visitors can see historic machinery in action, take part in interactive science demonstrations, and enjoy exhibitions that showcase how Manchester helped shape the modern world.

The Stoller Hall

The Stoller Hall

Stoller Hall, part of Chetham’s School of Music, offers unrivalled acoustics and an eye-catching visual setting for live music, performances, and events. Its programme ranges from classical and contemporary concerts to jazz, world music, comedy, spoken word, and student performances.

HOME Manchester

HOME Manchester

HOME is Manchester’s centre for contemporary theatre, film and visual art, formed in 2015 from the merger of Cornerhouse and the Library Theatre Company. It offers independent cinemas, galleries, theatre stages, a bookshop, and a café bar. HOME hosts a mix of international and local work, from cutting-edge theatre and live music to contemporary art exhibitions and independent films.

Royal Exchange Theatre

Royal Exchange Theatre

The Royal Exchange Theatre transforms the way people experience live theatre, staging bold new dramas and fresh takes on classics. Founded by artists in 1976, the company now produces work in its iconic theatre-in-the-round, on tour, and online. The building itself is a striking seven-sided, glass-walled capsule suspended within the historic Cotton Exchange. Every seat is less than nine metres from the circular stage, which creates an intimate connection between performers and audience.

Castlefield Gallery

Castlefield Gallery

Founded in 1984, Castlefield Gallery is at the forefront of supporting emerging artists and new art practice in the UK. Beyond displaying a diverse range of contemporary art across up to seven temporary exhibitions per year and presenting offsite projects, the gallery runs New Art Spaces (pop-up project spaces for artists and creatives across Greater Manchester) and CG Associates (a professional development scheme for artists, writers, and independent curators).

Manchester Central Library

Manchester Central Library

Manchester Central Library is the city’s iconic library, designed by E. Vincent Harris and opened in 1934. Following a £50m refurbishment in 2010, taking four years, the Grade II listed building has been brought into the 21st century by combining historic features with cutting-edge design. Explore previously hidden heritage spaces and the impressive Wolfson Reading Room, a highlight of the refurbishment.

Portland Basin Museum

Portland Basin Museum

Portland Basin Museum sits on the waterside in Ashton-under-Lyne, Tameside, celebrating the people, events and industries that have shaped the area over the last 200 years. The heritage centre includes exhibitions in a restored building, featuring a recreated 1920s street, industrial artefacts, and displays that bring the region’s history to life.

esea contemporary

esea contemporary

The groundbreaking esea contemporary is the UK's unique non-profit art centre spotlighting artists influenced by East and Southeast Asian cultures. Nestled in Manchester, a city with a populous East Asian demographic, esea contemporary has evolved from a community arts festival in 1986 to a dynamic hub for cultural exchange in the art scene. More than a gallery, it hosts a variety of initiatives from exhibitions and commissions to residencies and public events, all while championing creativity, compassion, and community.

Working Class Movement Library

Working Class Movement Library

The Working Class Movement Library in Salford preserves over two centuries of campaigning for social and political reform, built from the personal collection of Ruth and Edmund Frow. The archive includes books, pamphlets, visual media, and ephemera that document the stories of activists and ordinary people, from Peterloo and conscientious objectors in WWI to volunteers in the Spanish Civil War and mass demonstrations during the Great Depression.

Contact Theatre

Contact Theatre

Contact Theatre is Manchester’s innovative performance venue on the Oxford Road Corridor, renowned for its bold programming and commitment to young people. Teenagers and young adults help shape the theatre’s schedule, which includes theatre, dance, spoken word, music, comedy, and visual art. The building’s distinctive towers make it one of the city’s architectural landmarks.

Gallery Oldham

Gallery Oldham

Gallery Oldham is a public museum and art gallery in Oldham (about 30 minutes by train from Manchester), free to enter and housing a mix of fine art, natural history, social history objects, and contemporary exhibitions. Inside, the permanent exhibition Oldham Stories brings together items from the gallery’s collections, from taxidermy and fossils to industrial artefacts, ceramics, historic photographs, and paintings. The gallery also hosts rotating shows of contemporary art, community-led projects, international exhibitions, and work by local artists. Talks, workshops, and activities for families, schools, and adults are held regularly.

Elizabeth Gaskell's House

Elizabeth Gaskell's House

Elizabeth Gaskell’s House is the restored home of the celebrated Victorian novelist, where she lived from 1850 to 1865. Visitors can explore four period rooms, learn about Elizabeth and William Gaskell’s lives, and discover the Manchester that inspired her novels. The house also features exhibitions, a recreated garden, and a tea room in the old kitchen and servants’ hall, serving cakes and hot drinks in traditional china. Knowledgeable volunteers offer guided tours, sharing stories of the family, the restoration process, and the daily life of the household.

The Lowry

The Lowry

The Lowry is a landmark arts centre at Salford Quays, home to two theatres and galleries exhibiting works by LS Lowry alongside contemporary art from around the world. The theatres host a mix of performances, from West End musicals and drama to live music, comedy, dance, and opera, attracting both local and international talent. The galleries feature a rotating programme of exhibitions, so there’s always something new and refreshing to see, whether it’s Lowry’s iconic paintings or modern sculpture and photography.

People’s History Museum

People’s History Museum

The People’s History Museum tells the story of democracy and the fight for equality in the UK. Visitors can explore banners, documents, and exhibits that celebrate the reformers, workers, and voters who shaped modern Britain. The museum includes main galleries, a Changing Exhibition Gallery, and a Community Gallery, all with hands-on displays and activities for children. There’s also a shop with books and gifts, and the on-site café bar, The Left Bank, for a bite to eat.

Manchester Art Gallery

Manchester Art Gallery

The Manchester Art Gallery is one of the country's finest art museums, boasting fantastic collections that mix the very best of contemporary art with long-standing artistic traditions, spanning six centuries. The museum curators acknowledge that most of the pieces in their collection represent the point of view of the "old white men", and they try to course correct with more alternative temporary exhibitions.

Manchester Museum

Manchester Museum

Manchester Museum houses nearly six million objects spanning natural history, anthropology, archaeology, and botany. Highlights include one of the UK’s largest collections of ancient Egyptian artefacts, a Vivarium with live animals, and displays covering global cultures and local history. The museum also runs regular exhibitions, talks, and activities for visitors of all ages.

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