The BLM movement illuminated the symbolic and emotional power attached to who and what councils and communities choose to exalt in civic space. In March 2021, Manchester Council conducted public consultations to ‘ensure’ the public realm was ‘holistic’ and ‘meaningfully reflected the city’s communities past and modern-day identity’. Yet questions regarding the history of revered figures, imbalances in representation and silences in recognition remain. The following traces both new and lesser-known, but no less pivotal, plaques and monuments, their often-overlooked histories and current place.
The war on history
The River Tigris was said to have turned black from the ink spilled when the Mongols demolished the Great Library of Baghdad. Dresden’s Frauenkirche, an 18th-century church famed for its outstanding architecture, was ruined by British bombs during World War Two. The Great Sphinx’s nose was knocked off by a misfired cannonball from one of Continue Reading
The People’s History Museum
Manchester’s continual architectural and cultural makeover has offered a few surprises over the past decade (the controversial design of the Hilton Tower splitting Mancunian opinion in particular) yet whilst that particular building has proved divisive, the redevelopment of The People’s History Museum (PHA) has received a far more positive reaction from the public. Manchester has Continue Reading
Pub review: Mr Thomas’s Chop House
Walking into this place really is (excuse the cliché) like stepping back in time – providing you can ignore the chrome coffee machine and smoke-less air of course. Housed in a former Georgian House on Cross Street, this Manchester institution first opened as a pub and restaurant by Thomas Studd in 1870. Before 1901, hard Continue Reading