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 Manchester Skyscape
The world’s first industrial city and the self-proclaimed capital of the north, Manchester is an exciting, vibrant and cosmopolitan metropolis.
 Piccadilly Gardens - Manchester
Manchester is renowned as a centre for contemporary fashion, music, culture and sport (especially soccer!). It is a city of great raucous energy, attitude and tenacity that has continually morphed and adapted to whatever conditions it has faced throughout its history.
Manchester started out as a Roman colony but the city’s key epoch was during the Industrial Revolution. From the 14th Century the ‘rainy’ city had been known for its textile industries brought by Flemish weavers who found the damp atmosphere of Manchester useful in keeping cotton fibres together. By the early 18th Century, the cotton industry exploded; canal networks connected the city with the port of Liverpool, Richard Arkwright introduced the steam-powered mill and Manchester became known as the ‘Cottonopolis’. Throughout the 19th Century the smoking chimneys of Manchester’s ‘Dark Satanic Mills’ continued to expand as did their work force, creating the world’s first industrial city and providing the archetype for modern urban living repeated in cities throughout the world.
In more recent times Manchester launched an ambitious programme of rejuvenation, which restored the city’s status as a ‘world class’ urban centre and put Manchester back on the world stage.
Manchester has always been the face of urban chic in Britain and is one of the main fashion centres outside London, where designers boutiques sit beside top chains like Harvey Nichols and Selfridges in the ultra modern shopping district of Exchange Square.
This area is over looked by Manchester’s newest and greatest landmark Urbis, a towering wedge shaped building of glass, housing the museum of modern urban living. Manchester’s rich heritage is duly celebrated throughout the city, from the Museum of Science and Industry beside the canals and former Roman fort at Castlefield, to the revamped Salford Quays housing the Imperial War Museum and the Lowry, the gallery celebrating the work of the great urban landscape artist L.S. Lowry.
Manchester’s more classical heritage can be found in the wonderful Victorian Gothic architecture of the John Rylands Library and the fabulous range of works in the Manchester Art Gallery, with a collection from artists such as Gainsborough, Constable, Turner, Canaletto and Gaugin. Manchester is home to two world famous symphony orchestras, the Halle and the BBC Philharmonic, but to many people the city is known as the home of the ‘Theatre of Dream’s, Old Trafford, the stadium of one of the biggest clubs in the world, Manchester United.
As a gateway to Britain, Manchester provides excellent access from Manchester Airport to the north of England and Wales , while Manchester is a rich destination in itself.
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