Calling all Russophiles! Catherine Dank from Manchester Metropolitan University will talk about the friendship between Manchester and St Petersburg, 2 -4pm , on the 13th October in City Library. We will be showing rare film clips; taken from the North West Film Archive, of early exchange trips, and you can browse related archive photographs, taken from the papers of Bernard Sydney Langton during his 1956 visit to Russia.

Manchester and St Petersburg have a longstanding sister city link with 2012 marking the fiftieth anniversary of the relationship, which endured during the Cold War. The historic centre of St Petersburg and its related monuments are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, you can see why from the photograph below!

Events have also been held at the Russian National Library in St Petersburg. Archive materials covering fifty years were displayed alongside contemporary photography by students from the Manchester School of Art…