John Rylands Library

Smack bang in the middle of Deansgate, John Rylands Library is the perfect respite from the mean streets of Manc. Well, nearly perfect – no loud whispers in here kids – or a librarian will suddenly pop up inches away from you and tell you to "keep it down, turn it off, don't use flash, don't stand on that bit, don't look at that, but have a nice time". If you're good at behaving impeccably then you'll have no trouble. It has the atmosphere of somewhere austere and staid, but it's absolutely stunning architecturally, and smells a bit like my Nan's house. It's well worth a visit because there are very, very old things here – like the oldest bit of the Old Testament anywhere – and that's old. There's another John Rylands library on the university campus, but that one's not for all the normal people as well.

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