Manchester Museum absolutely knocked out of the park on its reopening week, with a whopping 52,000 people paying a visit.
In case you hadn’t heard, Manchester Museum had been closed for around 18 months while it underwent a £15 million transformation project – but it officially reopened on Saturday 18 February, and has been showing off its modern new two-storey extension, revamped cafe and gift shop, and brand new exhibition spaces ever since.
It looks like Mancs have clearly missed the cultural institution too, with the reopening weekend seeing thousands rushing down to check out its new look over the weekend.
And now, it’s been revealed that the total visitor numbers for the first week was an impressive 52,000.
Manchester Museum saw a massive 52,000 people visit during its opening week / Credit: Manchester Museum
The museum’s director, Esme Ward, previously said she was “an emotional wreck” after seeing the now-viral scenes of people queueing down the streets to get in.
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“Manchester, you’re amazing” she added on Twitter.
Having first opened in 1890, and housed inside a neo-Gothic building designed by Alfred Waterhouse, Manchester Museum is one of the largest university museums in the country.
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Inside its doors, the popular attraction has more than 4.5 million objects from natural sciences and human cultures.
The transformation of Manchester Museum has been supported by UK Government through DCMS and Arts Council England, and by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, The University of Manchester, and numerous philanthropic supporters.
New spaces inside the museum now include a brand new Exhibition Hall, which has opened with the blockbuster exhibition Golden Mummies of Egypt, and is filled with more than 100 objects and eight mummies, as well as the new South Asia Gallery – a partnership with the British Museum – which is the UK’s first permanent space to explore the lived experience of South Asian diaspora communities.
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All that is alongside the existing collections of fossils and other objects from natural sciences and human cultures.
One of the most immediate differences from the museum’s £15 million transformation though is the new accessible entrance straight off Oxford Road – which brings visitors straight into a stunning new gift shop.
The museum had been closed while it underwent a £15 million transformation project / Credit: Chris Bull (via Manchester Museum)
There’s also a new dinosaur in town too, who’s joined the museum’s legendary T-Rex Stan.
Dating back to the Cretaceous period, and having been found in the US state of Montana, April the Tenontosaurus has taken up her place in the former entrance beside the Fossils Gallery
And now, the city has been praised for the inspiration it has to offer.
We all know the UK is a melting pot of culture, and is a country brimming with creativity, arts, and innovation, but have you ever stopped to think about which UK cities would be considered as the most inspiring for creatives?
Well, the team over at printing experts Aura Print were pretty intrigued by it, and so decided to do a bit of research in a bid to come up with a top 10 list.
Manchester has been named the ‘most inspiring’ city in the UK / Credit: Marketing Manchester | Kimpton Clocktower Hotel
They considered a wide range of factors in the process that has seen Manchester come out on top – with some of the factors including the number and density of art galleries and museums, theatres, comedy clubs, right through to the street art scene, the availability of creative job opportunities, and the number of art and design universities.
Based on all of these factors, each city was given an ‘inspirational score’ out of 10 to help create the final rankings.
Top 10 Most Inspiring Cities in the UK
Manchester – 8.33/10
Brighton and Hove – 7.69/10
Bristol – 7/10
London – 6.94/10
Edinburgh – 6.60/10
Leeds – 6.55/10
Liverpool – 6.45/10
Glasgow – 5.71/10
Newcastle – 5.57/10
Belfast – 5.52/10
Manchester earned an impressive 8.33/10 for its inspirational score, thanks to having the highest number of comedy clubs outside London, a bustling street art scene, over 13 billion admiring the city on TikTok, and even being called a “must-visit for theatre aficionados” due to being home to the UK’s biggest theatre in the round in the Royal Exchange Theatre.
Brighton and Hove takes the second spot on the list just behind Manchester, with Bristol, London, and Edinburgh all following close behind to round out the top five.
Other fellow northern cities on the list include Leeds in sixth place, as well as Liverpool in seventh, and Newcastle in ninth.
Featured Image – Marketing Manchester
Art & Culture
Disney’s smash-hit musical Aladdin is coming to Manchester on its first UK tour
Emily Sergeant
Disney’s smash-hit musical Aladdin is heading out on its first UK tour later this year, and the magic carpet will be landing here in Manchester.
Based on the beloved 1992 animated film of the same name, and following several critically-acclaimed and sold-out runs on both Broadway and in London’s West End since it first debuted back in 2011, it’s now been announced that Disney’s Tony and Olivier Award-nominated musical, Aladdin, is to tour the UK and Ireland for the first time ever.
The massive musical will take to the stage at some of the country’s best-loved theatres – with the tour set to kick off in Edinburgh in just a few weeks time.
Liverpool, Bradford, and Sunderland are just a handful of the other Northern locations the show will be stopping off at in 2024, as well as here in Manchester, while Glasgow, Cardiff, Birmingham, and Bristol are also set to see the magic live on stage – with several other major UK cities named on the lineup too.
One lamp, three wishes and infinite possibilities…
Disney’s spectacular Broadway and West End musical ALADDIN comes to Manchester in May 2024!
Aladdin will be taking over Manchester’s Palace Theatre for an extended run from Wednesday 22 May to Sunday 7 July 2024.
The UK and Ireland tour of Disney’s Aladdin will star Yeukayi Ushe as Genie, and introduce Gavin Adams as Aladdin, while Desmonda Cathabel will play Jasmine when the show opens in Edinburgh – with casting for the role in future venues to be announced soon.
They’ll be joined by Adam Strong as Jafar, Jo Servi as Sultan, Angelo Paragoso as Iago, Nay-Nay as Babkak, Adam Taylor as Omar, and Nelson Bettencourt as Kassim.
Disney’s smash-hit musical Aladdin is coming to Manchester on its first UK tour / Credit: Disney’s Aladdin
The show features all the timeless songs we know and love from the film.
It also features new music by Tony, Olivier, Grammy, and eight-time Acadamy Award winner Alan Menken, and lyrics by the equally-decorated trio of Howard Ashman, Tim Rice, and Chad Beguelin, while the production and is directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw.
Tickets to Disney’s Aladdin at Manchester Palace Theatre are set to go on general sale on Friday 27 October, with prices ranging from £20 up to £150 and expected to be snapped up fast.
Emily Sergeant -
6th March 2023 
