Manchester Jewish Museum

Manchester has had a notable Jewish population for centuries. The first records of Jewish people in the city are from in 1741, and the city’s first synagogue was built in 1796.  A combination of economic opportunities during the Industrial Revolution and persecution elsewhere in Europe led many Jewish people to immigrate to Manchester during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. 

Even today, Greater Manchester contains quite a few synagogues and other Jewish businesses and institutions, many of which are clustered in an area north of the city center.

The Manchester Jewish Museum has played a major role in documenting the history of Jewish people in the city and is one of England’s only museums dedicated to Jewish people and their histories. The museum was established in 1984 in a former synagogue, commonly referred to as the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue. 

Located to the north of the city center in an area where a large Jewish population once resided, the Victorian synagogue is an elaborate brick building with stained glass windows designed by the architect Edward Salomons. The synagogue opened in 1874.

For almost three decades, the former synagogue contained all of the museum’s exhibits, but in 2021, a modern extension opened adjacent to the synagogue. That extension features an exterior clad in Corten steel with geometric patterns cut into the cladding. After opening the extension, the museum won several architectural awards. 

Additional restoration work was also done to the synagogue’s exterior and interior. That work was so successful that the building now has a Grade II* listing in England.