Royal Exchange, Manchester

My brother always takes me to interesting places. Yesterday it was the Christmas Market in Manchester, which was great. I haven't blipped it as AMcG was there about half an hour before me! But we also saw some of the wonderful buildings in Manchester. I think I was most struck by the Royal Exchange. It's had a chequered history, being rebuilt several times in the 19th century as a commodities exchange mainly for cotton. It took a direct hit in the Manchester Blitz in WW2, was rebuilt again, took a lot of the blast of the IRA bomb in 1996, and was rebuilt again. The external structure is grand and classical, but it houses the Exchange Theatre which was built inside it. The theatre looks like a small spaceship that has landed in the middle of the Grand Hall. This photo looks over the superstructure of the theatre to the glass domes held up by the Corinthian columns - an amazing marriage of new and old and a testament to the resilience of Manchester.