Category: Scotland

Museum
The Burrell Collection was amassed by rich collector and shipping magnate Sir William Burrell, and was originally housed mainly at his home, Hutton Castle.
On his death, it was gifted to the City of Glasgow, and after some delay was housed in a new gallery in Pollok Country Park. The gallery building incorporates some architectural stonework collected by Burrell, and also several reconstructed rooms from Burrell’s mansion.
The main items of the collection are paintings by major artists including Rodin, Degas and Cézanne, and important examples of late medieval art, Chinese and Islamic art, and collectible objects and statuary including Ming vases and Islamic carpets. Only part of the collection is on display.

The Collection (admission free) is eminently worth a visit. The building is a fine piece of modern architecture. Unfortunately, despite the eye-watering cost, the roof leaks badly, and the museum is due to close in 2016 for three years for repairs (at further eye-watering cost). Should have hired the Tesco’s architects 🙁
I advise you to visit soon.

Asides the above, there has been some controversy about the Collection and Burrell’s wishes. He did not want it housed so close to a then-smoky Glasgow. He did not want the contents toured abroad – but following an enabling private Act of Parliament an overseas tour is planned (to help pay for the repairs to the building).

The museum is in Pollok Country Park. It is accessible by bus, and by train. Pollokshaws West station is 200 yards from the park entrance.
If arriving by car, note that you can drive through the park, though the roads are quite narrow. There is a free car park about 500 yards away on the edge of the Country Park, past Pollok House. Parking is also available in the middle of the Park adjacent to the Burrell Collection building, but this car park has parking meters.

The Hunterian Art Gallery and Mackintosh House stand on a slope above the Hunterian Museum. The latter is in a larger and older looking building below.
The gallery contains masterpieces by Rembrandt, Rubens, Chardin and Stubbs, and the world’s largest permanent display of the work of James McNeill Whistler. There is a significant Scottish Colourist collection, and works from the Glasgow Boys (and Girls).

Major examples of Scottish art from the 18th century to the present are on display. These include portraits by Ramsay and Raeburn, genre studies by Wilkie, impressionistic works by the Glasgow Boys, vivid landscapes, still-lives and figurative paintings by the Scottish Colourists, and paintings by leading 20th century artists and sculptors including Joan Eardley, Anne Redpath, Robin Philipson, Eduardo Paolozzi and William Turnbull.

Adjacent to the Gallery is a concrete replica of Rennie Mackintosh’s house at 78 Southpark Avenue, Glasgow (now part of the University site), with the original interiors re-installed. The replica enjoys almost the same views and pattern of natural lighting as the original. Service areas of the original house are not replicated.
The original house was demolished in the 1960’s as structurally unsound and new University buildings built over the site.
The original was built in the mid-19th century and remodelled by Mackintosh who lived in it from 1906 to 1914. The interiors with their typical Mackintosh features, and including a white fitted carpet, were clearly very modern for the Edwardian period.
(More recently, a house at 78 Derngate, Northampton with interiors by Mackintosh was restored at considerable cost.)
The Gallery and Mackintosh House (accessible by guided tour from within the Gallery) are both well worth a visit.
The nearest Subway stops are Kelvinbridge and Hillhead.
Bus 4,4A. No free parking.