Market Street is about to get even more mind-bending

Manchester’s Market Street is home to many things: High-street fashion, the Arndale, pop-up food vans, and plenty of buskers.

But soon it’ll host a new type of establishment.

That’s because a museum has secured planning permission to open in the former Sports Direct unit, above the Tesco Express store on the south side of the street.

The Museum of Illusions, a Croatian chain which started in 2015, has secured approval from the council to convert the shop.

Mind-bending Market Street

“The proposed museum would provide exciting exhibit space, supporting offices, storage, staff welfare and public sanitary provision,” the Museum said in a planning statement.

“The proposals also includes a new toughened frameless glass shopfront with automatic sliding doors and satin stainless steel patch fittings.”

Its move to Manchester is part of a huge expansion for the organisation, which already has 40 locations in four continents.

Its website says new museums will open in the UK with spots in Manchester and London.

Manchester’s Museum of Illusions

The Museum offers ‘a collection of mind-altering exhibits, artwork, and experiential-type interactive entertainment’, according to Jonathan Benjamin, CEO.

“The other thing is that it’s also very hands-on in the sense that we encourage people to interact with several of the exhibits, and take photos if possible,” he added.

“It’s essentially an example of the type of experiential type of museums that are dotting the globe at the moment.”

More specifically in Manchester, the museum will feature ‘fascinating holograms, mind bending illusion rooms, and astonishing exhibits intended to trick the mind and puzzle perceptions’ with ‘each state-of-the-art museum offers a glimpse of the seemingly impossible and unbelievable’.

When will Manchester’s Museum of Illusions open?

It is not yet known when the Museum will open, but it was given planning permission on Wednesday (May 8), and work must start within three years.

You can find out more on the Museum of Illusions website by clicking here