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Urbis - The National
Football Museum
 Rising like the funnel
of a giant cruise liner from the Cathedral Gardens the
Urbis is one of my favourite buildings in Manchester.
As you turn the corner of the Corn Exchange it rises
dramatically in front of you. The building was
designed by Ian Simpson Architects, a practice that
has created a number of signature buildings in the new
Manchester. It came out of a Millennium Lottery funded
£29m international competition for a City Centre
landmark building.
   It was intended to
be a museum about life in cities around the world
and offered an interesting format that involved
riding up to the top of the building in a lift that
resembled a funicular railway then working your way
back down through the exhibits.
  The building has not
been without controversy. In February, 2002, the
Manchester Metro News ran a story headlined "Secret
£1M loss at Urbis". The newspaper was outraged that
the City Council had been conceiling the fact that
the museum was going to cost £1M a year to operate.
However one councillor pointed out that the
Millenium Quarter had already generated £93 Million
in public sector investment and £500 Million of
private sector funding, as well as creating 1100
jobs.
 In December of 2006 the Manchester Evening News said of Urbis, "BOSSES at Manchester's Urbis museum are celebrating a dramatic turnaround in visitor numbers. They say it is largely due to the success of exhibitions focusing on the city's own life. One of Manchester's most controversial museums, Urbis was slammed by critics three years ago after it was revealed it was attracting fewer than 200 visitors per day. There were even calls for it to be scrapped. But by last year it had pulled in a total of 500,000 people since it opened in 2002. By the end of this month, it is expected 250,000 will have walked through the doors this year, an increase of almost 45 per cent on last year. The museum, whose profile
has been enhanced by the presence of the
M.E.N.'s partner TV station Channel M, says
60,000 more people have visited the
contemporary exhibition centre since
Manchester and its people were placed firmly
at the heart of its programme."   **************** In 2012 Urbis became home to the National Football Museum.     Close Window |