Manchester Art Gallery

The Manchester Art Gallery on Mosley Street is recognizable by the grand, columned portico of its original building, designed by Sir Charles Barry in the Greek Ionic style. Opened in eighteen thirty-five for the Royal Manchester Institution, this structure was created to promote the arts and sciences during an era when the city was rapidly growing as an industrial powerhouse. The gallery became a public institution in eighteen eighty-two, when the society gifted its building and collection to the city, fulfilling a vision to provide a refuge of beauty and education for the working public.