Kelvingrove Museum

Nearest train/subway

Kelvinhall subway

What3words

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Website

https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/venues/kelvingrove-art-gallery-and-museum

WHERE IS IT?

In the city's West End, adjacent to Kelvingrove Park and Kelvin Hall, with the University of Glasgow looming on the hill above.

gallery

about

The first thing that may strike you above the Kelvingrove Museum is that it appears to have been built backwards, with the main entrance facing the River Kelvin and the nearby University of Glasgow, rather than the busy Argyle Street from which most pedestrians will approach. While this was always intended to be the case, an urban rumour to this day perpetrates that the architects, Sir John. W. Simpson and E.J Milner Allen, leapt to their deaths upon seeing the error.

This is, to borrow a local phrase, utter mince.

Officially opened in 1901, the late Victorian building is the most popular free museum in all of Scotland. A century after opening, it received a £25 million refurbishment between 2003 and 2006. Tourists flock here to see one of the most impressive collections of arms and armour in the entire world, including an actual Spitfire airplane, as well as exquisite European art from various eras, as well as home grown talents and graduates of the Glasgow Art School.

One of its most famous pieces is Christ of Saint John of the Cross by prominent Spanish artist Salvador Dali. To sample some home grown art, check out The Glasgow Boys gallery, with works from a group of radical Scottish artists who created a collection of work between 1880 and 1895, sowing the seeds of modern Scottish painting.