A novel manganese(III)–porphyrin complex, namely, catena-poly[[chloridomanganese(III)]-μ2-5,10,15,20-tetrakis(pyridin-3-yl)-21H,23H-porphinato(2−)-κ5
N
21,N
22,N
23,N
24:N
5], [MnCl(C40H24N8)]
n
, 1, was prepared by the hydrothermal reaction of manganese chloride with 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(pyridin-3-yl)-21H,23H-porphine. The crystal structure was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The porphyrin macrocycle exhibits a saddle-like distortion geometry. The MnIII atom has a six-coordination geometry. Each porphyrin unit links to two neighbouring units to yield a one-dimensional coordination polymer. These chains are further interlinked by hydrogen bonds to form a two-dimensional network. The complex shows red photoluminescence emission bands in ethanol solution, which can be attributed to ligand-to-ligand charge transfer (LLCT) accompanied by partial metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT), as revealed by TDDFT calculations.