Sights in Glasgow
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Willow Tearooms
Admirers of the great Mackintosh will love the Willow Tearooms, an authentic reconstruction of tearooms Mackintosh designed and furnished in the early 20th century for restaurateur Kate Cranston. Relive the original splendour of this unique tearoom and admire the architect’s stroke in just about everything. He had a free rein and even the teaspoons were given his distinctive touch. Reconstruction took two years and the Willow opened as a tearoom again in 1980 (having been closed since 1926). The street name Sauchiehall means ‘lane of willows’, hence the choice of a stylised willow motif.
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Glasgow Cathedral
An attraction that shouldn’t be missed, Glasgow Cathedral has a rare timelessness. The dark, imposing interior conjures up medieval might and can send a shiver down the spine. It’s a shining example of Gothic architecture, and the only mainland Scottish cathedral to have survived the Reformation. Most of the current building dates from the 15th century, and only the western towers were destroyed in the turmoil.
The entry is through a side door into the nave, which is hung with some regimental colours. The wooden roof above has been restored many times since its original construction, but some of the timber dates from the 14th century; note the impressive shields. Many…
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Botanic Gardens
The best thing about walking into these beautiful gardens is the noise of Great Western Rd quickly receding into the background. Amazingly, the lush grounds don’t seem that popular with locals (except on sunny weekends) and away from the entrance you may just about have the place to yourself. The wooded gardens follow the riverbank of the River Kelvin and there are plenty of tropical species to discover.
Kibble Palace, an impressive Victorian iron and glass structure dating from 1873, is one of the largest glasshouses in Britain; check out the herb garden, too, with its medicinal species. The gorgeous hilly grounds make the perfect place for a picnic lunch. There are al…
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Glasgow School of Art
Mackintosh’s greatest building, the Glasgow School of Art, still fulfils its original function, so just follow the steady stream of eclectically dressed students up the hill to find it. It’s hard not to be impressed by the thoroughness of the design; the architect’s pencil seems to have shaped everything inside and outside the building. The interior design is strikingly austere, with simple colour combinations (often just black and cream) and those uncomfortable-looking high-backed chairs for which Mackintosh is famous. The library, designed as an addition in 1907, is a masterpiece. The visitor entrance is at the side of the building on Dalhousie St; here you’ll find a sh…
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Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum
In a magnificent stone building, this grand Victorian cathedral of culture has been revamped into a fascinating and unusual museum, with a bewildering variety of exhibits, but not so tightly packed as to overwhelm. Here you’ll find fine art alongside stuffed animals, and Micronesian shark-tooth swords alongside a Spitfire plane, but it’s not mix ’n’ match: rooms are carefully and thoughtfully themed, and the collection is a manageable size. There’s an excellent room of Scottish art, a room of fine French Impressionist works, and quality Renaissance paintings from Italy and Flanders. Salvador Dalí’s superb Christ of St John of the Cross is also here. Best of a…
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Glasgow Science Centre
Scotland’s flagship millennium project, the superb, ultramodern Glasgow Science Centre will keep the kids entertained for hours (that’s middle-aged kids, too!). It brings science and technology alive through hundreds of interactive exhibits on four floors. Look out for the illusions (like rearranging your features through a 3-D head-scan) and the cloud chamber, showing tracks of natural radiation. It consists of an egg-shaped titanium-covered IMAX theatre (phone for current screenings) and an interactive Science Mall with floor-to-ceiling windows – a bounty of discovery for young, inquisitive minds. There’s also a rotating observation tower, 127m high. And check out the p…
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Scottish Football Museum
Football fans will just love the Scottish Football Museum, which features exhibits on the history of the game in Scotland and the influence of Scots on the world game. Football inspires an incredible passion in Scotland and the museum is crammed full of impressive memorabilia, including a cap and match ticket from the very first international football game (which took place in 1872 between Scotland and England, and ended with a score of 0-0). The museum’s engrossing exhibits give insight into the players, the fans, the media and the way the game has changed over the last 140 years. You can also take a tour of the stadium (adult/child £6/3; combined ticket with museum £9/4…
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Clydebuilt
If immersing yourself in a city’s heritage floats your boat, a visit to Clydebuilt will get you paddlin’. It’s a superb collection of model ships, industrial displays and narrative, vividly painting the history of the Clyde, the fate of which has been inextricably linked with Glasgow and its people. It’s a cleverly designed museum, with twists and turns that offer something new around every corner. Outside you can board Kyles, a typical 1872 vessel. Moored on the empty shores of the Clyde, with only the crying gulls above breaking the silence, it’s a perfect place to contemplate the defunct shipyards that formed the cornerstone of Glasgow’s industrial heritage. Cl…
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Riverside Museum
The latest development along the Clyde is the building of this visually impressive new museum, designed by Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, at Glasgow Harbour west of the centre. Due to open at the time of research, it was to house a varied collection, including three recreated Glasgow streets from various points in history, a display of maritime heritage and much of what was formerly in the Museum of Transport: a display of cars made in Scotland, plus assorted railway locos, trams, bikes (including the world’s first pedal-powered bicycle from 1847) and model ships. The magnificent Tall Ship Glenlee (likely admission charge £5.95 with one child free per adult), a beautiful t…
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Museum of Transport
Across Argyle St from the Hunterian Museum & Art Gallery is the surprisingly interesting and very comprehensive, but badly signposted, Museum of Transport. Not convinced? It’s actually a very fine museum with exhibits including a reproduction of a 1938 Glasgow street scene, a display of cars made in Scotland, plus assorted railway locos, trams, bikes (including the world’s first pedal-powered bicycle from 1847) and model ships. There’s a room dedicated to the Clyde shipyards. It’s like peeping through a porthole at the not-too-distant past. Note that the museum is due to be incorporated into a new Riverside Museum down at Glasgow Harbour, sometime in 2008. By train it’s a…
reviewed
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Hunterian Museum
Housed in the glorious sandstone main building of the university, which is in itself reason enough to pay a visit, this quirky museum contains the collection of renowned one-time student of the university, William Hunter (1718–83). Hunter was primarily an anatomist and physician but, as one of those gloriously well-rounded Enlightenment figures, he interested himself in everything the world had to offer. Pickled organs in glass jars take their place alongside geological phenomena, potsherds gleaned from ancient brochs, dinosaur skeletons and a creepy case of deformed animals. The main halls of the exhibition, with their high vaulted roofs, are magnificent in themselves. A…
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St Mungo’s Museum of Religious Life & Art
A startling achievement, this museum, set in a reconstruction of the bishop’s palace that once stood here in the cathedral forecourt, is an audacious attempt to capture the world’s major religions in an artistic nutshell, while presenting the similarities and differences in how they approach common themes such as birth, marriage and death. The result is commendable. The attraction is twofold: firstly, impressive art that blurs the lines between religion and culture; and secondly, the opportunity to delve into different faiths, an experience that can be as deep or shallow as you wish. There are three galleries, representing religion as art, religious life and, on the top f…
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Blythswood Square
Recently opened in a gorgeous Georgian terrace, this elegant five-star offers plenty of inner-city luxury, with grey and cerise tweeds providing casual soft-toned style throughout. Grades of rooms go from standard to penthouse with corresponding increases in comfort; it’s hard to resist the traditional ‘classic’ ones with windows onto the delightful square, but at weekends you’ll have a quieter sleep in the new wing at the back. There’s an excellent bar and superb restaurant, as well as a very handsome floorboarded and colonnaded salon space on the 1st floor that functions as an evening spot for cocktails. Other facilities include valet parking and, ready by the time you …
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Gardens
The best thing about walking into these beautiful gardens is the noise of Great Western Rd quickly receding into the background. Amazingly, the lush grounds don’t seem that popular with locals (except on sunny weekends) and away from the entrance you may just about have the place to yourself. The wooded gardens follow the riverbank of the River Kelvin and there’s plenty of tropical species to discover. Check out the herb garden, too, with its medicinal species. The gorgeous hilly grounds make the perfect place for a picnic lunch. There are also organised walks and concerts in summer – have a look at the noticeboard near the entrance to see what’s on.
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Mackintosh House
Attached to the Hunterian Art Gallery, this is a reconstruction of the first home that Charles Rennie Mackintosh bought with his wife, noted artist Mary Macdonald. It’s fair to say that interior decoration was one of their strong points; the Mackintosh House is startling even today. The quiet elegance of the hall and dining room on the ground floor give way to a stunning drawing room. There’s something otherworldly about the very mannered style of the beaten silver panels, the long-backed chairs and the surface decorations echoing Celtic manuscript illuminations. You wouldn’t have wanted to be a guest that spilled a glass of red on this carpet.
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St Mungo’s Museum
A startling achievement, St Mungo’s Museum is an audacious attempt to capture the world’s major religions in an artistic nutshell. The result is commendable. The attraction is twofold: firstly, impressive art that blurs the lines between religion and culture; and secondly, the opportunity to delve into different faiths, an experience that can be as deep or shallow as you wish. There are three galleries, representing religion as art, religious life and, on the top floor, religion in Scotland. Britain’s only Zen garden is outside.
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Provand’s Lordship
Across the road from St Mungo’s Museum is Provand’s Lordship, the oldest house in Glasgow. A rare example of 15th-century domestic Scottish architecture, it was built in 1471 as a manse for the chaplain of St Nicholas Hospital. The ceilings and doorways are low, and the rooms are sparsely furnished with period artefacts, except for an upstairs room, which has been furnished to reflect the living space of an early-16th-century chaplain. The building’s best feature is its authentic feel – if you ignore the tacky imitation-stone linoleum covering the ground floor.
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Hunterian Art Gallery
Across the road from the Hunterian Museum, the bold tones of the Scottish Colourists (Samuel Peploe, Francis Cadell, JD Fergusson) are well represented in this gallery, which also forms part of Hunter’s bequest to the university. There are also Sir William MacTaggart’s impressionistic Scottish landscapes and a gem by Thomas Millie Dow. There’s a special collection of James McNeill Whistler’s limpid prints, drawings and paintings. Upstairs, in a section devoted to late-19th-century Scottish art, you can see works by several of the Glasgow Boys.
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Scotland Street School Museum
Mackintosh’s Scotland Street School seems a bit forlorn these days, on a windswept industrial street with no babble of young voices filling its corridors. Nevertheless it’s worth a visit for its supreme facade and interesting museum of education that occupies the interior. Reconstructions of classrooms from various points in the school’s lifetime, combined with grumbling headmaster and cleaner will have older visitors recalling their own schooldays. It’s right opposite Shields Rd subway station and there’s an OK cafe here.
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People’s Palace
Set in the city’s oldest park, Glasgow Green, is the solid orange stone People’s Palace. It is an impressive museum of social history, telling the story of the city from 1750 to the present. It has creative, inventive displays, which are great for families – the kids will love the re-creation of a WWII air raid. The palace was built in the late 19th century as a cultural centre for Glasgow’s East End. The attached greenhouse, the Winter Gardens, has tropical plants and makes a nice spot for a coffee.
reviewed
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Holmwood House
An interesting building designed by Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson, Holmwood House dates from 1857. Despite constant ongoing renovations, it’s well worth a visit. Look for sun symbols downstairs and stars upstairs in this attractive house with its adaptation of classical Greek architecture. Cathcart is 4 miles south of the centre; get a train via Queen’s Park or a train to Neilston. Otherwise, take bus 44, 44A, 44D or 66 from the city centre. Follow Rhannan Rd for about 800m to Holmwood House.
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House for an Art Lover
Although designed in 1901 as an entry in a competition run by a German magazine, the House for an Art Lover was not built until the 1990s. Mackintosh worked closely with his wife on the design and her influence is evident, especially in the rose motif. The overall effect of this brilliant architect’s design is of space and light. Buses 3, 9, 54, 55 and 56 all run here from the city centre; always ring ahead before making the journey, as the house may be booked for events.
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Lighthouse
Mackintosh’s first building, designed in 1893, was a striking new headquarters for the Glasgow Herald. Tucked up a narrow lane off Buchanan St, it now serves as Scotland’s Centre for Architecture & Design, with fairly technical temporary exhibitions, as well as the Mackintosh Interpretation Centre, a detailed if dryish overview of his life and work. On the top floor of the ‘lighthouse’, drink in great views over the rooftops and spires of the city centre.
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Burrell Collection
One of Glasgow’s top attractions is the Burrell Collection. Amassed by wealthy industrialist Sir William Burrell before being donated to the city, it is housed in an outstanding museum, 3 miles south of the city centre. This idiosyncratic collection of treasure includes everything from Chinese porcelain and medieval furniture to paintings by Renoir and Cézanne. It’s not so big as to be overwhelming, and the stamp of the collector lends an intriguing coherence.
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Scotland Street School Museum
An impressive Mackintosh building, the Scotland Street School Museum is dominated by two glass towers. It’s a fascinating museum of education, with reconstructions of classrooms from Victorian times and the 1940s to the 1960s. The place evokes childhood memories for just about everyone – don’t be surprised if you hear a few titters from elderly visitors as they pass the headmaster’s office.
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