Visit to Manchester’s Jewish Museum

The last week in August 2022 saw Jan and Louis off to Manchester to visit Granddaughter Holly at University.

Whilst in Manchester, Jan and Louis took the opportunity to visit Manchester’s Jewish Museum. The museum is housed in the grade II listed building that was the former Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue. The first challenge was finding the building, Jan said, “Google maps showed the location of the building only a 5 minute drive from where we were staying. However, with roadworks and not actually being able to drive down Cheetham Hill from the end we approached, we almost gave up! After driving around in circles for half an hour, ignoring the Sat Nav and working on instinct, we finally arrived following 40 minutes in the car!”

Jan and Louis said they were so pleased they persevered, what an amazing Museum and beautiful old Shul. Many photos were taken and a few are on this website. For Jan & Louis, some of the exhibits were almost like looking back on their childhood. The old Haggadah’s and Tzduka boxes from the JNF used to be found in many Jewish homes. The actual Shul has been preserved in pristine condition, even the Arron Chodesh has old Sefer Torah scrolls behind a protective glass screen. Having spent  2.5 hours looking around, a lovely hot meal was enjoyed at the vegetarian café run by friends of the museum. Al in all, if you are ever visiting Manchester definitely make the Jewish Museum on Cheetham Hill part of your to do list.