Manchester Museums & More

A photograph of the exterior of the Manchester Museum

On this page, you’re going to learn about the wacky and wonderful museum known as the Manchester Museum as well as other posts about other museums in Manchester. You’ll learn about what it contains whether this is extremely old weaponry or the first strip of code. So let’s take a plunge into the known but not well known of what you can find in the beauty that is the Manchester Museum.

History and general knowledge about the museum

The Manchester Museum is the most famous museum in Manchester and provides you with a plethora of antique goodies to learn about. Open seven days a week and free to everyone there are a number of special exhibitions that are one this year that you can visit. Other than this you have a number of wonderful pieces that your eyes cannot wait to discover. There are collections in this museum which are awe-inspiring and will increase your knowledge of many topics. So make sure you take a look at the wisdom handed down to us at this very museum.  The address if this fantastic place of learning is here The University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester M13 9PL

Exhibitions currently on!

There are two exhibitions going on at the moment which you can visit for free and possibly learn something new at.

The first exhibition I wish to talk about is the “Nature Through Roman Eyes” exhibition which is inspired by the 1st-century Roman writer Pliny the Elder. This exhibition draws upon the rich archaeology and natural sciences collections which explore the various ways in which the Romans understood animals, plants, trees and the natural world. The exhibition itself goes through the life of Pliny the Elder from his military service in Germany and then unto his death. This exhibition is running from the 6th of April to the 30th of October so you have plenty of time to get down here and view this fantastic part of our world’s history.

The second and final exhibition that I wish to cover is “Memories of Partition” this exhibition is all about the experiences and legacies passed down by members of the South Asian communities when the creation of India and Pakistan was passed in 1947.

The Extensive collection

Throughout the Manchester Museum, you’ll find an enormous collection of objects and history.

Ancient Egypt and the Sudan regions

Within this collection, you will find the Manchester museums astounding collection of around 18,000 objects from ancient Egypt and the Sudan regions. This is seen as one of the most significant in Europe and is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom. The entire collection includes material from prehistoric times through to the Roman, Christian and then Islamic times. You’ll find a truly astounding collection of mummies from a tomb in Thebes to a collection of Roman period mummy masks and painted portraits.

Vivarium

Within this collection, you can find a huge abundance of endangered animals such as many different types of frog life as well as animals saved from the brink of extinction.

Living Cultures

This part of the museum contains around 18,000 objects from Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East and the ocean itself. Over the past 200 years, many people have chosen to donate their collections to the Manchester Museum, therefore, creating a bigger and grander place full of knowledge.

Earth Sciences

The study of fossils, rocks, meteorites and mineral are what is found here at the Earth Sciences section. You’ll find interesting fossils from the ice age, dinosaur ages and much more. It’s definitely a worthwhile investigation if you’re into a time before we were even the creatures we are today!

Money

With this department, you’ll find coins from ancient Greece and Rome as well as coins from the Islamic ages. You’ll also come across the strange paper money of India and China.

Archaeology

A collection of timeless pieces…literally. We delve into the many finds that have accumulated into the halls of the Manchester Museum You’ll find a huge collection of vases, gems figures and metalwork all from different eras across time.

Animals

You’ll find in this collection over one million animal species that have been preserved as well as the United Kingdom’s largest collections of birds, eggs and small marine animals. A large part of the bird collection here was gathered by Charles Darwin in 1835.

Archery

A large collection of over 4,000 archery objects and materials from all over the world collected by Ingo Simon in 1946. A trust was created to protect this collection in 1970 by Erna Simon who was Ingo’s wife.

Plants and Fungi

An excellent botanical collection which consists of over 750,000 forms of plants and fungi. The collection forms from original private collections from James Melvill, Leopold Grindon, Charles Bailey and Alan Newton. In today’s age, the collection is widely used for art, science and education.

Entomology

Known as the study of bugs. The Manchester Museum holds a worldwide collection of bugs which contains a great variety of organisms. You’ll find crustaceans, insects, spiders, centipedes and millipedes in this fantastic collection.