MANCHESTER BEYOND FOOTBALL

MANCHESTER IS A HUB OF CONTEMPORARY ART AND CULTURE, HIPSTER CAFÉS, AND EXPERIMENTAL FOOD AND DRINK JOINTS, BUT IT REMAINS ROOTED IN ITS EGALITARIAN, WORKERS’ MOVEMENT-ORIENTED, RADICAL HERITAGE

- PIYALI SEN

MANCHESTER MAY BE known for its industrial past and football clubs, but the city also has fantastic street art, a legendary music scene, and strong ties to the women's and worker's rights movements. This is where "Baby," the world's first stored-memory computer, was invented. Several legendary music bands, such as Oasis and Simply Red, have roots in Manchester. The city has reinvented itself as an eclectic mix of tech start-ups, vintage markets, eco-friendly co-ops, and world-class eateries.

JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY

Few know that Manchester has some of the best museums and libraries in the UK, outside of London. Take the John Rylands Library, for example. Set up in the memory of a textile entrepreneur and philanthropist of the same name, the jaw-dropping neo-Gothic building houses ancient books, manuscripts, maps, photographs, and visual materials spanning 5,000 years. It has the oldest known piece of the "New Testament: the Fragment of the Gospel of John," the "Epic of Gilgamesh" written in cuneiform script on a clay tablet, first editions of Shakespeare’s sonnets, a "Gutenberg Bible," and personal notes as well as correspondence between famed literary figures.

CHETHAM'S LIBRARY