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See what’s on in the King’s Theatre

Opened in 1904, the King’s Theatre is Glasgow’s house for touring musicals, dance, comedy and circus-type performances.

Occupying the corner of Bath Street and Elmbank Street, in the Charing Cross area of the city, the King’s Theatre has been entertaining the masses for more than 100 years.

The King’s initially concentrated upon musical plays and drama and in time introduced ballet, until the 1960′s, when the pantomime became an annual Christmas feature of the theatre.

Over the years many actors and actresses have graced the stage of The King’s.  These include Sir Lawrence Olivier, Sarah Bernhardt, John Gielgud, Katharine Hepburn and Tyrone Power.  The Jackson Five appeared at a Royal Variety Performance in the late 1970′s.

Designed by Frank Matcham, the King’s Theatre is a mix of styles, with influences of Baroque and Art Nouveau in red Dumfriesshire sandstone. A pair of two storey pavilions, topped with ball finials, stand near either end of the Bath Street elevation, one providing access to the main foyer and the other housing the scenery dock, which opens straight onto the stage. Originally a female statue stood on top of either pavilion, but these were removed during the war period to prevent them becoming damaged. Unfortunately they were subsequently misplaced, and have never been rediscovered.

The auditorium seats 1,785, with seating provided on 4 levels: Stalls, Grand Circle, Upper Circle and Gallery. Matcham was famous for his innovative style of cantilever construction of the individual seating tiers, virtually eliminating the need for supporting pillars. The King’s was no exception, with reasonable sightlines from most seats. Victorian and Edwardian theatres were almost always built to segregate patrons at each level, although subsequent modernisations often eradicate this. However, this has thus far not been modernised in the King’s, which still has separate entrances, some of which have traces of now disused pay boxes.

Work for the restoration of the King’s Theatre is now fully underway, with the intention of returning the theatre to it’s full former glory before the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014.

See what’s on in the King’s Theatre

Admission: Free

Opening hours: Mon-Thu & Sat: 10am – 5pm; Fri & Sun: 11am – 5pm

Glasgow’s brand new Riverside Museum is now open!

Now relocated to the stunning Clyde-side landmark, the Transport Museum opened it’s doors to the public on the 21st June 2011.

The Riverside Museum now has more than 3,000 objects on display, compared with 1,300 in the previous Museum of Transport.

The museum uses its collections of vehicles and models to tell the story of transport by land and sea, with a unique Glaswegian flavour.  Here you will find the oldest surviving pedal cycle and the finest collection in the world of Scottish-built cars.  They include such world-famous makes as Argyll, Arrol Johnson and Albion.

The breadth of the collection is impressive.  It features all forms of transport from horse-drawn vehicles to buses and fire engines, and from motorcycles to caravans.  Even toy cars and prams are included.

Much loved by visitors from far and wide are the famous Glasgow trams, the ‘Subway’ station and Kelvin Street.  You can recapture the atmosphere of old Glasgow.

The Museum of Transport has been a firm favourite with generations of Glasgow children and their parents.  For an entertaining day out it really does have something for all the family.

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100 years since its completion, Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s architectural masterwork today remains a vibrant and hard working art school.

Visitors are warmly welcomed to explore this spectacular internationally celebrated and locally loved building all year round.

Exhibitions, Archives and Collections Centre, Cafe

View a changing programme of exhibitions in the Mackintosh Museum, make an appointment to conduct your own research on the School’s Archives and Collections Centre, or enjoy a cup of tea in the School’s eclectic café overlooking GSA’s façade.

Guided Tours

Accessible only by guided tour, witness the maturing of a young Mackintosh’s unique architectural style on your journey through the two phases of the building. Identify elements of traditional Japanese architecture and Scotland’s baronial tradition with your student guide. Learn about Mackintosh’s life and involvement in both the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau movements and admire examples of original furniture, artwork and interiors against the backdrop of the jewel in the crown of Mackintosh’s legacy in Scotland.

Advance booking for guided tours is advisable during holiday periods and weekends, and for groups of 6 or more.  Private and specialist tours are also available.  Disabled access to guided tours is available with advance booking only.  To book in advance please contact the Glasgow School of Art.

GSA Shop

Visit the award winning GSA Shop and choose from a range of jewellery, textiles, books, prints and postcards, including those inspired by Mackintosh and contemporary collections by GSA staff, students and alumni.  All profits support the School.

Admission

• Adults: £8.75
• Child: £4
• Concession: £7

Tel: 0141 287 2999
Email: history_and_glasgow@ gcl.glasgow.gov.uk

Admission: Free

Opening hours: Monday-Thursday 9am-8pm; Friday & Saturday 9am-5pm; closed on Sunday.

Europe’s largest reference library takes its name from the tobacco tycoon, Stephen Mitchell.

The Mitchell library was founded in 1874 and has been open to the public since 1911, it now houses over 1 million books and documents.

Wander around the spacious rooms and admire the beauty of this magnificent building.  The hallmark of the Mitchell Library is its majestic dome, which features the visage of Minerva, goddess of wisdom.

There is a huge selection of aerial photography covering most of Glasgow and it’s an excellent place to visit if you are interested in Glasgow’s history.

To make the resources of the Mitchell Library more accessible, a selection of photographs and other images of the city have been digitised.  The digitised material is of local and historical interest, featuring Glasgow’s buildings and streets as well as showing Glasgow’s people going about their daily lives.  Although the selection is a very small portion of the collection held within the library, this online collection is a great place to start browsing.

George Square

George Square
Glasgow
G1

Admission:  Free.

Opening hours:  All day, every day.

See what’s on in George Square

Named after King George III, George Square is Glasgow’s biggest and most famous central square.  Most celebrations including Christmas, New Year and St Andrews day will be celebrated in George Square in true Glasgow style.

George Square was laid out in 1781, part of James and Robert Adam’s emerging innovative Georgian central grid plan that initially spanned from Stockwell Street east to Buchanan Street.  For the first few years it was quite simply a muddy hollow, filled with dirty water and used for slaughtering horses.  But between 1787 and the 1820s, the square was gradually encased and lined with Georgian townhouses at its east and west ends, as well as hotels, and the square was a private garden for the surrounding townhouses.  By 1850 the surrounding area had become a centre for mercantile activity, with the Merchants House moving to the square in 1877, and after frequent disturbances and pulling down of railings by an angry and discontented mob the square became an established public space.

The square was named after George III, a statue of whom was originally intended to occupy the centre of the square.  But the chaos and concern caused to the city’s Tobacco Lords by the American War of Independence in 1776 and eventual British defeat in 1782, coupled with the King’s recurrent fits of madness had created mixed feelings toward him.  So the centre of George Square was instead used to commemorate Sir Walter Scott, the Scottish historical novelist and poet.  Notably, this was the first memorial to be dedicated to Sir Walter Scott.

Historically, the square has often been the scene of public meetings, political gatherings, riots, protests, celebrations, ceremonies, parades and concerts.  Perhaps the most famous was the Black Friday 1919 rally, when campaigners for improved working conditions (particularly protesting a 56 hour working week in many of the city’s factories) held an enormous rally, with at least 90,000 protesters filling the square and the surrounding streets.  But more recently, George Square has also been home to various protests and meetings, including protests against the Poll Tax and Iraq War, and it is also home to the annual Remembrance Day parades.

The square has also become the venue for Glasgow’s massive Christmas and Hogmanay celebrations (see photos below), and is the meeting point for many other events including the annual “Santa Dash”, 10k and half marathon runs.

Christmas lights at George Square	Glasgow’s Hogmanay at George Square

Sights within George Square

George Square is centred around a 24 metre high column features the statue of author Sir Walter Scott, erected in 1837.  The eastern side of the square is the site of the city’s Cenotaph, designed by JJ Burnet and originally built to commemorate Glaswegians killed in the First World War when it was erected in 1922 by the Earl Haig Fund.  Many of Glasgow’s public statues are situated around the square and include memorials to poets Robert Burns and Thomas Campbell, inventor James Watt, chemist Thomas Graham, generals Sir John Moore, Lord Clyde and politicians William Gladstone and Robert Peel, plus the only known equestrian statues of a young Queen Victoria and her consort Prince Albert.

Sights bordering George Square

You will find Glasgow’s main Tourist Information Centre on the south side of the square, adjacent to the former General Post Office (1878).  The east side of the square is dominated by the beautiful and ornamental Glasgow City Chambers building (1888), headquarters of Glasgow City Council.  To the North side of George Square you will find Queen Street Station, the Millenium Hotel (formerly the North British Railway Hotel), both of which date from the1840s, and the offices of Ernst & Young, which date from the 1970s.  Queen Street borders the square’s West side, and features Glasgow’s Chambers of Commerce building (1874), which was designed by John Burnet.  In 1907 two storeys were added by JJ Burnet, and these are topped by a domed tower on which is perched a ship on a globe; a reminder of the significance and importance of sea trade to Glasgow’s prosperity.

Admission: Rates shown below

Taking a sightseeing bus tour of Glasgow is absolutely the best, and probably the most fun way to see the city.

The tours have 21 stops around Glasgow, and stop at all the major tourist attractions within the city centre, the West End and a number of other areas (see a list of stops and what you can see and do at each of them below).  There is guide on board each bus, and they also have a multilingual commentary system which will not only keep you entertained, but also well informed about the city.

The tours are not just aimed at tourists though.  I took a tour last summer, and after living in Glasgow for 27 years still learned a few things about my beloved hometown.  So no matter whether you’re looking for some history, brilliant shopping, or you’re just out to see what’s what in Glasgow, the Sightseeing Tours are definitely the best way.

One thing I would advise is to take clothing for every possible weather scenario.  In Glasgow, as any Glaswegian will tell you, rain can appear at any minute.  So if you’re on the top of the open top bus, you will get wet!

Buses leave every 15 minutes from George Square between the hours of 9.30 am and 4.30 pm (5.30 pm in summer).  The buses all follow the same route, and get to each stop regularly.  See the website for a full timetable, and you can click here to see a downloadable map which shows the bus route and all the stops in the city.  And you won’t miss these buses – there certainly aren’t any others that look like them in the city!

Ticket prices are shown below.  Each ticket is valid for 2 days, and you can hop on and hop off as many times as you like on each of those days.

Book online at the official website.

The Burrell Collection

Tel: 0141 287 2550

Admission: Free

Opening hours: Monday to Thursday and Saturday 10am - 5pm, Friday and Sunday 11am – 5pm

The Burrell Collection is probably Glasgow’s most extensive and diverse museum.

The award-winning building contains a unique and internationally famous collection of art in a beautiful woodland setting.  Bequeathed to the city by Shipping magnate Sir William Burrell in 1944, the collection includes paintings by Rembrant, Cézanne, Bellini and Sisley.

Sir William’s interests were worldwide in nature, with a special focus on the arts and crafts of medieval Europe, Oriental art and European paintings.  The collection, which is comprised of over 9,000 objects, also includes Greek and Roman artefacts, objects from several Chinese dynasties, along with other ceramics, furniture and tapestries.  There are also stained glass works with modern sculpture by Rodin and Epstein and an important collection of Islamic art.

It really is astounding, and extremely impressive, that all of these items were collected by one man; William Burrell.  Not only is this a very interesting collection, but despite the ugly conservatory style building, the setting of the collection is actually very pretty; it is housed within the woodlands of Pollock Country Park, in Pollock House (which was also gifted to Glasgow City Council).  So you can enjoy a picnic while you’re there!  That probably would be the highlight of the day if you took kids with you.  However, the Burrell also hosts major temporary exhibitions and there are family friendly events throughout the year.

Tel: 0871 540 1000

Admission: Prices listed below

Opening hours: Daily 10am – 5pm

The Glasgow Science Centre is a brilliant day out for the whole family.

My kids absolutely love it, and I must admit, I enjoy it too!  There are 3 main attractions within the Science Centre, each of which I have written a bit about below.  These are the Science Mall (the interactive museum type bit which is home to the Scottish Power Planetarium), the Tower (sometimes called the Science Tower or the Glasgow Tower), and the IMAX cinema (Scotlands first 3-D cinema).  When you visit the Science Centre you can go to just 1 of these parts, pick 2 to visit, or enjoy all 3.

The Science Mall

This is the biggest part of the Science Centre, which contains 3 floors packed full of interactive exhibits, the Scottish Power Planetarium, Science Show Theatre and Climate Change Theatre.  The exhibits are such good fun for kids – mine just absolutely love playing with everything.  These aim to educate kids in a really interactive and fun way in many different scientific fields, although there does seem to be a bias towards physics and engineering (which as a biologist I definitely noticed).  The staff are really friendly and seem to love playing with the exhibits as much as the kids do.  The staff also run workshops throughout the day which again are really interactive and fun.  I took the kids on Easter weekend and they loved the Egg Drop Challenge workshop.  I think their favourite one is the cockroach workshop though; for some reason they love patting them!

There are shows on throughout the day which again are really good for kids; you could potentially see anything from a body being dissected in a rather gross way (a fake one obviously) or someone setting fire to stuff.  Some of the Science Shows are aimed at older kids though which can be a bit difficult, so make sure you check before you go to one of those.  The climate change shows are a fun movie that you through – they dont have a presenter.  But the kids still enjoyed that one with it’s cute sheep.

The Scottish Power Planetarium is amazing.  A show is well worth the extra £2.  You have to see it to understand what it’s like – it’s like getting taken away into space for half an hour.  For the kids – it’s a great adventure, and for the adults, it’s really relaxing.  The presenters are really nice and will happily answer your questions about their show or about the planetarium.  Again, there are various shows on which are aimed at different age ranges, so check which ones are suitable before you go.

Even if you don’t do anything else, you should definitely do the Science Mall.

Glasgow Tower

I love the Glasgow Tower.  It boasts being the tallest freestanding structure in the UK at more than 100m, and the only structure in the world (apart from windmills) that can fully rotate 360 degrees – by that I mean that entire structure can turn – the whole Tower.  The ride up in the lift is great fun – there are large windows so you can see out the whole way up which the kids seem to love.  As the icing on the cake, the staff in the Tower are so knowledgeable about the history and geography of Glasgow.  It really is a must for any tourist or interested resident.

It gets a bad name for not working and being closed all the time, but I think that’s a bit unfair.  The reason it’s often closed is partly because of the weather; we all know that the weather in Glasgow is quite unpredictable, and if wind speeds get above 20mph then people can’t go up the Tower anymore.  I think that is quite reasonable because the lifts are on the outside of the structure, and going up those for 2 and a half minutes in high winds would probably cause anyone to get pretty scared.

IMAX cinema

The IMAX is a 3-D cinema which also shows feature films like Transformers and Harry Potter.  The screen is massive – something like the length of 3 buses and the picture and sound is an amazing experience.  The 3-D movies are really good.  If you haven’t seen one before then it is well worth it (as long as you pick a good one).  And it’s great seeing the kids trying to catch stuff as it ‘comes out of the screen’.  Just brilliant – there isn’t much more I can say about a cinema!

The ticket prices are a bit complicated (they seem to have made it even more complicated with their new ticket pricing), and they are impossible to find on their website, so I have tried to simplify it as much as possible below.

* All of these ticket prices include an approximate £1 gift aid donation.  Gift aid allows tax relief on money donated to charities.  So any amount donated will be treated as if it has had basic tax deducted already.  Basically, charities like it and try to encourage you to gift aid.  The last time I was there you got a voucher to spend within the Science Centre which I think was slightly more than the amount donated.  Obviously you do have a choice, and if you don’t pay tax yourself then you cant gift aid.

** The season ticket prices are actually really good value.  The season ticket gets you into the science mall and planetarium as many times as you like in a year.  If you go 3/4 times in a year, you’ve pretty much made your money back.

Unfortunately they don’t have a deal for all 3 attractions.  They say it’s because they don’t advise you doing all 3 attractions in a day as there is just too much to do.  Although there is a lot to fit in, it is most definitely possible to do everything.  I think it’s a shame that if you’re a visitor in Glasgow and can only spend one day in the Science Centre, it can be extremely expensive to do all 3 attractions with the present ticket rates/packages.

Tel: 0141 553 2557

Admission:  Free

Opening hours: Monday to Thursday and Saturday 10am to 5pm, Friday and Sunday 11am to 5pm.

This award-winning museum is unique in it’s exploration of the importance of religion in people’s lives across the world and across time.

St Mungo’s Museum aims to promote understanding and respect between people of different faiths and of none.

The building, which stands on the site of the medieval Bishop’s Castle, was opened in April 1993.  It is situated near Glasgow’s magnificent Gothic cathedral and opposite Provand’s Lordship, the oldest house in the city.

The Gallery of Religious Life explores the world’s six main religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism.  The museum also looks at other beliefs such as Chinese, native American, Egyptian and African.  St Mungo’s Museum is in fact the only museum in the world which chronicles all of the major faiths.  In this gallery you can listen to people of all religions talk about their faith and meet the Mexican Day of the Dead skeleton, which celebrates the victory of life over death.  You can also see stunning works of art including the figure of the Hindu god, Shiva.  The gallery is illuminated with a wealth of colours by beautiful stained glass windows depicting Christian saints and prophets which creates a unique atmosphere in the museum.

The Scottish Gallery presents the fascinating story of how religion has shaped the culture and beliefs of people in the West of Scotland from earliest times to the present.  You can admire the beautiful Sharing of Faiths Banner, celebrating the multi-faith city of Glasgow today.  Beside the museum is Britain’s first permanent Zen garden a tranquil haven where you can relax, and which symbolises the harmony between people and nature.

The museum hosts a variety of temporary exhibitions throughout the year, and in 2007 offers a programme of exhibitions and events relating to the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.  They also run anti-sectarian workshops.

An excellent day out!

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Admission: Free

Opening hours: Monday to Thursday and Saturday 10am - 5pm, Friday and Sunday 11am - 5pm.

Situated in Glasgows West End, surrounded by Kelvingrove Park, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is an absolutely stunning building; the red sandstone walls and high, majestic turrets and beautiful surroundings.  Even just going to see it from the outside is worthwhile!

After a 3 year, £35 million restoration project, Kelvingrove reopened in July 2006.  Since then, over 2 million visitors have marvelled at Kelvingrove’s treasures.

There are 8,000 objects on display in the newly renovated gallery.  Some were already there before, but there are also quite a few new ones including a huge giraffe, a 4-metre Ceratosaur and a restored Spitfire.  The new Mackintosh and Glasgow Style galleries explore the genius of Glasgows most famous architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh.  It also hosts the city’s largest display of the Glasgow Style’s wide range of media and techniques.  In addition, Dali’s iconic painting Christ of St John of the Cross has returned to Kelvingrove, and sits alongside the likes of Botticelli, Rembrandt, Monet, Van Gogh, and Picasso.

The museum is very child friendly, and the natural history section is particularly interesting for both adults and children.

Another point of interest is the road leading to the back entrance of the museum.  Some people will tell you that the building was accidentally built backwards, but that is not the case.  The truth is, the position of the road changed at the last minute!

The museum also features education facilities, shops and a lovely café.  The new Exhibition Gallery hosts exciting temporary exhibitions throughout the year, and you can find out more about the collections and go online in the Study Centre and Library.

For more information go to the official website.