Memories of Urbis

On Wednesday last week, I headed along to Urbis to have a look round the museum of city life's final exhibition: 'Urbis has left the building: six years of the best exhibitions in pop culture'.

I found the most profound part of the exhibition was the comments wall, which was composed of post stick notes where members of the public had written about their feelings for the place. I found myself walking slowly back and forth alongside the wall. Many contributors spoke of their loss, disappointment and anger at the fact that Urbis would be closing.

The other thing that struck me was the internal wall which had a list of the names of all the individuals who had been involved in Urbis. It felt a bit like a war memorial, only the age and rank of the individuals concerned were not listed, too. If the writing on the wall was the roll of honour, the post stick notes formed the pages of a book of remembrance.

The closing exhibition is divided into five sections: International artists, Design, fashion and architecture, Manchester's creative community, Music culture and Family shows.

One of my favourite exhibitions staged at Urbis was entitled Manchester 24 which falls under the 'creative community' title. The exhibition was made up of forty contributors who each filmed a day in their life. Contributors included the late Tony Wilson, a taxi driver and an airline pilot. It was interesting hearing about the Hidden Manchester exhibition which I had not seen first time around.

The exhibition has something for everyone. 'Urbis has left the building: six years of the best exhibitions in pop culture' is open until February 27. The National Football Museum is due to open in the building in 2011.

Discover the best of Manchester at your own pace with the Manchester: Then & Now audio tour guide. The 2.4 mile (3.8 km)tour is composed of commentary points (like tracks on an iTunes album) and begins outside the Town Hall and concludes in Cathedral Gardens. Download and away you go.