People’s Palace and Winter Gardens
Glasgow Green
Glasgow
G40 1AT
Tel: 0141 271 2962
Admission: Free
Opening hours: Monday to Thursday and Saturday 10am - 5pm, Friday and Sunday 11am – 5pm
The People’s Palace is Glasgow’s social history museum and a chance to see the story of the people and city of Glasgow from 1750 to the present.
You can see paintings, prints and photographs displayed alongside a wealth of historic artefacts, film and computer interactives.
There is: dancing and holidaying; home life during the Second World War; and a trip to the steamie to get the clothes washed. Visit the ‘single end’ and discover how a family lived in this typical one-room Glasgow tenement family home of the 1930s. See the amazing banana boots worn by Billy Connolly on stage in the 1970s. Have a look at the Glassford family portrait and find out the history of this painting of a tobacco lord and his family and why one figure was painted out. Discover the political history of the city through some of the superb and unique banners on display.
On the top floor is the Glasgow history painting series made by artist Ken Currie in 1987. The series commemorates the massacre of the Calton Weavers, which marked the birth of the trade union movement and visually presents the political history of working class struggle in the city.
Winter Gardens
Attached to the People’s Palace is the Winter Gardens, and elegant Victorian glasshouse where you can relax among the tropical plants and enjoy the café. There is a programme of temporary exhibitions and events throughout the year.
Doulton Fountain
The Doulton Fountain is the largest terracotta fountain in the world, as well as the best surviving example of its kind. The fountain has been beautifully restored and relocated to the front of the People’s Palace. Find out more about the fountain from Glasgow City Council’s website.
My five year old daughter, Milly, and I recently stumbled upon the Irn Bru can can event in Glasgow Green which was great fun, especially since my daughter Milly is only allowed irn bru on special occasions so she thought all her xmas’s had came at once when she was allowed a whole can!
On the way back to the car we detoured passed a lovely waterfall where my daughter informed me was a statue of Queen Victoria. It was absolutely stunning, i had no idea who it was but clearly Milly knew. She then asked if we could go into the “People’s Palace to see the single end”, “where’s that sweetheart?” I asked, she looked at me as if i had horns and said “mu-um its right there, lets go it, its free so doesnt matter if you’ve forgotten your purse as usual”.
So in she took me and straight up the stairs to the single end where she explained to me all about the families that lived in the single ends in the 1950′s and what they had to do for a wash etc. I was absolutely mesmorised and could really feel the atmosphere. My eyes were brimming over at my wonderfully knowledgeable tourguide, who happened to be my five year old daughter.
The reason she knew all of this was that her P1 class at school had been doing a project about the single end and they had went on a school trip to the People’s Palace which obviously had a big effect on Milly. I told her that both her gran and papa had grown up in a single end in Glasgow. We had a fab day and went home laughing at our irn bru moustaches. And as Milly said, “it’s all free mum”.