Hotels near John Rylands Research Institute and Library

Enriqueta Rylands commissioned the John Rylands Research Institute and Library in memory of her husband, and Basil Champneys spent a decade building it. It opened to readers on 1 January 1900. The Historic Reading Room is the reason to come: a neo-Gothic hall of red Cumbrian sandstone with stained glass, carved stone screens and lamps that were fitted for electricity before most of Manchester had any. The collection holds the St John Fragment, the oldest known piece of the New Testament, dated to the first half of the second century.

Entry is free and the building is part of the University of Manchester Library, so it stays a working research institution rather than a museum piece. Rotating exhibitions occupy the ground floor gallery. Forty-five minutes covers it comfortably. The building closes on some Mondays, which catches people out.

Pro Tip: Go up the stone spiral staircase to the far end of the Reading Room and look back towards the entrance. That is the view worth the trip, and almost everyone photographs it from the wrong direction.