The Whitworth and Manchester Museum reopen to the public
- Whitworth and Manchester Museum reopen to the public
- Both have reduced opening hours 11am till 4pm Wednesday to Sunday
- Public will have to pre-book to access the museums
Whitworth art gallery has reopened to the public after a six-month closure due to the Covid-19 lockdown.
The museum will reopen with social distancing measures and reduced opening hours, and visitors must pre-book for the venue.
Despite such measures, familiar exhibits at the Whitworth will continue to be on display from the views of Whitworth park to its art collection of over 55,000 pieces.
Museum director Alistair Hudson said the response from visitors since reopening had been fantastic, adding that the reopening “has all run very smoothly”.
He said: “People are staying a lot longer and are really absolved in the artwork stuff. People during lockdown have realised how much they need art.”
Exhibitions which ground to a halt in March have had to be rearranged to make them accessible. The museum has launched many online features trying to reconnect people with art from their new Walk in the Park podcast that to a blog page entitled A Place Among the Trees bringing all the comforts of the Whitworth at home.
The gallery has put on several new exhibitions as part of welcoming back the public. One of new exhibitions entitled White Psyche, attempts to challenge the way European art embodies ‘whiteness’ and exploring its significance in today’s society with movements such as Black Lives Matter.
As well as the Whitworth reopening its doors, the Manchester Museum will be welcoming back visitors. The natural history museum will continue to display familiar exhibits from the Vivarium to Stan, the iconic T Rex fossil.
The museum’s Instagram account posted sums up the reopeing: “It has been beautiful to have you back enjoying the museum again and we would like to say Thank You for making this moment so special”.