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Revolution Manchester

Journey through Manchester's rich legacy of industrial innovations, scientific discoveries and ideas that started life in Manchester and went on to change the world.

From revolutionary wheels to sustainable travel, find out more about Manchester's engineering heritage and how our city has shaped the future of modern-day movement. 

See one of the first Rolls-Royce motorcars and meet some of the influential people that got Manchester moving. Find out about AVRO's chief aircraft engineer Roy Chadwick, designer of the iconic Lancaster bomber, and Paralympic athlete Dame Sarah Storey, who promotes healthy and sustainable ways of getting around as Greater Manchester's Active Travel Commissioner. 

Explore our city's role in the country's creative industries. From experimental broadcasters to trailblazing musicians, Manchester has influenced how we share ideas and express ourselves. 

Read all about how Madeline Linford paved the way for today's female journalists and watch a short film about Sheila Bhati and her work at the BBC. 

Dive into stories from Band on the Wall and Factory Records to see how Manchester's diverse cultural scene and free-thinking creatives continue to inspire generations of listeners and performers. 

Meet 'Baby', our working replica of the Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine—the ancestor of every modern computer. 

Discover more about engineers like Joseph Whitworth and Richard Roberts, who helped the wheels of industry to turn and make Manchester into a global powerhouse. 

Learn about the important role that sticky tape played in the discovery of graphene, a wonder material isolated by scientists at University of Manchester and find out how science can make it possible for us to see the invisible.

This is a small selection of objects on display in Revolution Manchester. You can browse our online collection for more items housed in the gallery. If you are visiting to see any of these objects, please contact us in advance to make sure that it will be on display.