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 shop with a small but useful interpretative display. Excellent hour-long guided tours (roughly hourly summer; 11am and 3pm winter) run by architecture students leave from here; this is the only way (apart from enrolling) you can visit the building’s interior. They’re worth booking by phone at busy times. Multilingual translations are available.