Opposite each other in Glasgow’s Cathedral district, St Mungo, so-called after Glasgow's patron saint, is an unusual museum with two interesting galleries displaying and exhibiting the world’s major religions such as a Mexican Day of the Dead skeleton and a Scottish Gallery covering religion in Scotland. The museum also has Britain’s first Zen garden and top-floor views of Glasgow Cathedral and Necropolis. Across the street is Provand’s Lordship, built as part of a hospital in 1471. It is one of Glasgow’s oldest houses, excellently preserved with original 17th-century furniture and a medicinal herb garden.
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Things to see in Glasgow
Tourist offices
VisitScotland Glasgow Information Centre
Address: 156a-158 Buchanan Street, Glasgow, G1 2LL, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 141 566 4083
Opening Hours:
March-April: Mon-Sat: 0900-1700 and Sun: 1000-1600
May, June, September and October: Mon-Sat: 0900-1800 and Sun: 1000-1600
July and August: Mon-Sat: 0900-1900 and Sun: 1000-1700
Most attractions in Glasgow are free - you won't find all-inclusive tourist passes there. It's worth picking up a leaflet called Glasgow's Leading Attractions which has vouchers for several attractions inside, such as Willow Tea Rooms and Glasgow School of Art. It's available from the Glasgow Information Centre.
St Mungo Museum Of Religious Life And Art and Provand’s Lordship
Opening Times: Tues-Thurs and Sat: 1000-1700 Fri and Sun: 1100-1700
Admission Fees: No
Disabled Access: Yes
UNESCO: No
Address:
2 Castle Street, Glasgow, G4 0RH, United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 141 276 1629 (Museum), +44 141 276 1625 (Provand’s Lordship)
Gallery of Modern Art
Centrally located in the middle of Royal Exchange Square, the Gallery of Modern Art, (GOMA), offers an up-to-date vision, showcasing the works of living artists. The gallery has an eye on the future with an excellent gift shop, cafe and art workshops – Saturday Art Club is a popular choice. The elegant, neoclassical 18th-century building itself is worth a look, a calming retreat from Glasgow's busy shopping scene. It's also worth visiting the galleries at Trongate 103, a short walk from GOMA.
Opening Times: Mon-Wed and Sat 1000-1700Thurs 1000-2000 Fri and Sun 1100-1700
Admission Fees: No
Disabled Access: Yes
UNESCO: No
Address:
Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow, G1 3AH, United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 141 287 3050
Glasgow Botanic Gardens
Visitors can get a breath of fresh air in the 20-hectares (49.5-acre) of Glasgow Botanic Gardens by the River Kelvin with its mix of formal gardens and woodland walks. It has an Arboretum with trees from around the world and themed gardens such as the Herb Garden, Children’s Garden and the World Rose Garden. The Botanic Gardens are dominated by the Kibble Palace, a spectacular curvilinear glasshouse designed by John Kibble, housing a collection of tree ferns. There’s a Heritage Trail between the Kelvin Walkway and the Arboretum, and a Tearoom near the Kibble Palace.
Opening Times: Grounds:
0700-dusk
Glasshouse:
1000-1800
1000-1615 (winter)
Tearooms:
1000-1800
1000-1600 (winter)
Admission Fees: No
Disabled Access: Yes
UNESCO: No
Address:
730 Great Western Road, Glasgow, G12 0UE, United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 141 276 1614
Website:
www.glasgowbotanicgardens.com
Glasgow Cathedral and the Necropolis
In the heart of the Cathedral Precinct is the Cathedral of St Mungo, founded by St Kentigern (or Mungo), the patron saint of Glasgow, in the 6th century. The Glasgow Cathedral, which dates back to the 13th century, is considered to be one of Scotland’s best preserved Gothic buildings. Free guided tours are available. Across the road from the cathedral is the surreal but impressive Necropolis, a Victorian garden cemetery with some notable funerary architecture including pieces by Rennie Mackintosh and fellow Glasgow architect Alexander ‘Greek' Thomson.
Opening Times: October-March:Mon-Sat from 1000-1600 and Sun from 1300:1530April-September:Mon-Sat from 0930-1730
Admissions usually close between 30 minutes to one hour before closing.
Admission Fees: No
Disabled Access: Yes
UNESCO: No
Address:
Castle Street, Glasgow, G4 0QZ, United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 141 552 8198
Website:
www.glasgowcathedral.org
Glasgow School of Art
The Glasgow School of Art is Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s great architectural masterpiece. It is a working art school so admission is by guided tour only - advanced booking is recommended during the peak season. Led by students, the tours point out Mackintosh’s architectural flourishes in the building, with access to several rooms including the library with original Mackintosh designs and the Mackintosh Room’s collection of furniture. The students also run ‘Glasgow Style’ walking tours illustrating the contribution made by Mackintosh and his contemporaries to the art nouveau movement, and ‘Glasgow Miracle’ walking tours that celebrate the creative regeneration of Glasgow.
Opening Times: Tour times: 1st April-30th September: Every 30 minutes from 1030-1530 except from 1230-13001st October-31st March: Every 30 minutes from 1030-1530 except from 1200-1400
Admission Fees: Yes
Disabled Access: No
UNESCO: No
Address:
167 Renfrew Street, Glasgow, G3 6RQ, United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 141 353 4500
Website:
www.gsa.ac.uk
Glasgow Science Centre
Echoing the silver curves of the Clyde Auditorium’s 'armadillo’ design across the river, the GSC's titanium-clad shell houses the Science Mall, with over 300 hands-on exhibits covering the spectrum of natural and applied sciences, plus a planetarium. Also part of the venue is the Cineworld IMAX, Scotland’s biggest IMAX. A tunnel from the GSC leads to the base of the 127m-high (417ft) Glasgow Tower, the only tower in the world that can turn 360 degrees. It is the tallest freestanding building in Scotland with stupendous views of the city from the observation level.
Opening Times: 27th June-2nd September: Every day from 1000-18003rd September-28th October: Every day from 1000-170029th October-25th March: Open Wed-Fri from 1000-1500 and Sat-Sun from 1000-1700
Admission Fees: Yes
Disabled Access: Yes
UNESCO: No
Address:
50 Pacific Quay, Glasgow, G51 1EA, United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 141 420 5000
Website:
http://www.glasgowsciencecentre.org
Hunterian Museum
Part of the University of Glasgow, The Hunterian Museum contains over 1.3 million artefacts including Scottish mineral treasures, dinosaur and fossil exhibits, displays of world culture, and objects from Captain Cook’s Pacific voyages. There are also permanent exhibitions dedicated to the Romans in Scotland, Lord Kelvin, the history of medicine in Scotland and to William Hunter, the medic and collector after whom the museum is named. Opened in 1807, The Hunterian is also Scotland's oldest public museum with one of the most extensive collections outside the National Museums.
Opening Times: Tues-Sat 1000–1700Sun 1100-1600
Admission Fees: No
Disabled Access: Yes
UNESCO: No
Address:
University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow, Scotland G12 8QQ, United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 141 330 4221
Website:
www.gla.ac.uk/hunterian/
People’s Palace and Winter Gardens
An impressive building in Glasgow Green, Glasgow’s oldest public space, the People’s Palace tells the story of the people and city of Glasgow from 1750 to the end of the 20th century. Using historic artefacts, paintings, film, photography and interactive screens, it’s an engaging insight into Glasgow’s social history and how Glaswegians have lived, worked and played over the years. Exhibits include a recreated tenement flat, the Steamie where women would wash the family’s clothes and a display about the high-rise Red Road flats, the adjoining Winter Gardens, a spectacular Victorian glasshouse, house exotic plants, palms, and a cafe.
Opening Times: Mon-Thurs and Sat: 1000-1700Fri and Sun 1100-1700
Admission Fees: No
Disabled Access: Yes
UNESCO: No
Address:
Glasgow Green, Glasgow, G40 1AT, United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 141 276 0788
Hunterian Art Gallery And Mackintosh House
The University of Glasgow’s art gallery is best known for holding the world’s largest permanent display of work by James McNeill Whistler. There are paintings by the Scottish Colourists and Glasgow Boys and Girls plus masterpieces by Rembrandt, Rubens, Chardin and Stubbs. It also has the largest single holding of work by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and houses The Mackintosh House, with original furniture among the reassembled interiors of the Glasgow home he shared with his artist-wife Margaret Macdonald from 1906 to 1914. Mackintosh House can only be visited on one of the free half-hour guided tours.
Opening Times: Tue-Sat: 1000-1700Sun 1100-1600
Admission Fees: No
Disabled Access: Yes
UNESCO: No
Address:
82 Hillhead Street, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 141 330 4221
Website:
www.gla.ac.uk/hunterian
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
This magnificent gallery and museum in the picturesque surroundings of Kelvingrove Park in Glasgow’s West End houses feature 8,000 objects in 22 themed galleries. These include European paintings by Dali, Botticelli, Titan, Monet, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, and works by Scottish Colourists and Glasgow Boys. There is a collection of Egyptian treasures, a gallery dedicated to Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Glasgow Style, a real Spitfire in the West Court, and armour, archaeology and natural history displays. Don't forget to check out Salvador Dali's Christ of St John of the Cross, an affecting vision of the crucifixion painted as if from above.
Opening Times: Mon-Thurs and Sat: 1000-1700 Fri and Sun: 1100-1700
Admission Fees: No
Disabled Access: Yes
UNESCO: No
Address:
Argyle Street, Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 141 276 9599
Riverside Museum
Designed by architect Zaha Hadid, the state-of-the-art Riverside Museum is an award-winning museum of transport located on the banks of River Clyde, which guides visitors through the colourful history of transportation, with a focus on Glasgow. Among the collection, which spans 3,000 objects, are fire engines, trams, cars stacked up against the walls, train carriages, vehicles hovering from the mezzanine level and bikes suspended across the ceiling. Popular exhibits include a reconstructed 1900s Glasgow street and Subway station, the world's oldest surviving bicycle, and an 1886 locomotive. Among the touchscreen and hands-on exhibits are video stories of the people who used, drove and designed transport.
Opening Times: Mon-Thurs 1000-1700
Fri 1100-1700
Sat 1000-1700
Sun 1100-1700
Admission Fees: No
Disabled Access: Yes
UNESCO: No
Address:
100 Pointhouse Place, Glasgow, G3 8RS, United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 141 287 2720
Tenement House
For a glimpse into an authentic 19th-century Victorian tenement flat, Tenement House, owned by the National Trust of Scotland, is a restored four-room house once home to a Miss Agnes Toward for over half a century. Features include the original fitted bathroom from 1892, a bed-closet and an 1860s sewing machine. The house has authentic gas lighting, as it didn’t get electric lighting until 1960. The permanent ground-floor exhibition incorporates Miss Toward’s personal archive and offers a valuable insight into life in early 20th century Glasgow.
Opening Times: 26th March-30th June: 1300-17001st July-31st August: Mon-Sat: 1100-1700 and Sun from 1300-17001st September-31st October: 1300-1700
Admission Fees: Yes
Disabled Access: No
UNESCO: No
Address:
145 Buccleuch Street, Glasgow, G3 6QN, United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 141 333 0183
The Lighthouse
Designed by Glasgow architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh and opened in 1895 and occupying the former Glasgow Herald Building, The Lighthouse became Scotland's Centre for Architecture and Design in 1999. With changing exhibitions and an interactive MAKLab, it also houses the permanent Mackintosh Interpretation Centre, which profiles the architect's work in the context of his contemporaries. The viewing platform of Mackintosh Tower offers terrific views over the city. Tours can be booked for an extra cost, which offer additional insight into the design and heritage of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s first public commission.
Opening Times: Mon-Sat 1030-1700Sun 1200-1700
Admission Fees: No
Disabled Access: Yes
UNESCO: No
Address:
11 Mitchell Lane, Glasgow, G1 3NU, United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 141 276 5365
Website:
www.thelighthouse.co.uk
The Tallship at Riverside
Located opposite the Riverside Museum on the River Clyde, the Tall Ship at Riverside – also called the Glenlee – is one of just five Clyde built ships still afloat in the world. Visitors can explore the shop including the Captain’s cabin, use the audio guides, visit the mini cinema and enjoy the under-5s play area in the cargo hold. The Tall Ship also offers maritime themed events and activities and costumed volunteer days at certain times of the year.
Opening Times: 1st February-29th October: Everyday from 1000-1700 30th October-31st Jan: Everyday from 1000-1600
Admission Fees: No
Disabled Access: No
UNESCO: No
Address:
150 Pointhouse Place, Glasgow, G3 8RS, United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 141 357 3699
Website:
www.thetallship.com
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