Artist impression of the new People's History Museum (from Left Bank). Courtesy People's History Museum
The People’s History Museum in Manchester is to reopen in March following a two-year redevelopment costing more than £12 million.
Architects have transformed the former Edwardian pumping station to reveal the original features and workings of the building, which is now joined to a new four-storey extension via a spectacular walkway.
Redevelopment of the Museum has added a further 1384 square metres of gallery space, a conservation studio, archive, café and shop. It is also the first building in Britain to be clad with corten, which is an unusual rusty material.
Carried Away exhibition @ People's History Museum - Suffragettes protest 1909. Courtesy People's History Museum
Opening the Museum’s exhibition programme is Carried Away – a photographic show documenting over 100 years of protest across Britain, including the Suffragettes, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Miners’ Strike.
Formed from a small collection owned by the Trade Union, Labour and Co-operative History Society in the 1960s, the People’s History Museum has grown into a national centre for the history of Britain’s working population.
Carried Away exhibition @ People's History Museum - Unemployment march 1929
The main galleries begin with the story of the 1819 Peterloo Massacre when a reform meeting ended in tragedy at St Peters Fields in Manchester after magistrates attempted to bring 60,000 plus workers and families under control. The event led to the first reform of Parliament in 1832.
Gallery displays go on to track the rise of revolutionaries and reformers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, through to Workers voters and citizens of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.
Carried Away exhibition @ People's History Museum - Anti fascism protest 1974. Courtesy People's Choice Museum
New displays include the Museum’s collection of radical banners, which is the largest in the world, as well as an exploration of how workers in the 19th century won and spent precious time off, including the story of the Co-operative movement.
A collection of almost 1,500 historic artefatcs spans two centuries and provides a journey through the lives histories and issues of the working people of Britain.
Highlights of the collection include the world’s oldest trade union and miners banner, the Tinplate Workers, 1821 and Ashover Miners c 1825 and the table on which the 18th century writer and revolutionary Thomas Paine wrote his groundbreaking treatise, The Rights of Man.
The museum's website has also been rebuilt and is scheduled to go online over the next few days – go to www.phm.org.uk for more information.
The Museum will be officially reopened on March 6 2010.
