Hotels near Manchester Art Gallery

Manchester Art Gallery has been free to enter since 1882, when the city took it over from the Royal Manchester Institution. The Pre-Raphaelite holdings are the strongest outside London, with Ford Madox Brown's Work and Holman Hunt's The Hireling Shepherd among them. Two Charles Barry buildings on Mosley Street connect to a glass-and-steel wing added in 2002, and the gallery runs its contemporary programme in that newer space. The craft and design collection upstairs, heavy on ceramics and Manchester-made textiles, gets skipped by most visitors and rewards the ones who do not.

Ninety minutes is enough for the highlights, longer if a touring exhibition is on. The gallery opens late on some evenings and the cafe on the second floor is one of the better quiet spots in the city centre. Rainy days here are the busiest, so aim for a dry morning.

Pro Tip: Take the lift to the top floor and work downwards. The crowds enter at ground level and drift up, so descending puts you a room ahead of them the whole way.