Heads up

Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Glasgow

Spitfire

Spitfire

Imperial War Museum, London

The Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

Image via Wikipedia

The Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is one of my favourite places to while away a rainy Glasgow afternoon.

Originally opened in 1901, the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum sits on the edge of Kelvingrove Park, close to the university in Glasgow’s trendy West End. Walking along Dumbarton Road from the nearby Kelvinhall subway station, the category A listed museum building is hard to miss: an unlikely cross between a Victorian railway station on the outside and a fancy wedding cake on the inside.

The museum houses a vast and eclectic collection of objects: taxidermy, armour, fine art from Scotland and beyond (notably, Dali’s controversial painting Christ of St John of the Cross), furniture by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, even a fully functioning pipe organ. An exhibition of memorabilia from Australian rock band AC/DC is currently on display.

It is this very diversity that attracts me back to the museum time and time again. I am happy to spend my afternoon just mooching about the numerous themed galleries, looking at whatever happens to catch my eye. And where else can you stand next to Sir Roger (a stuffed Asian elephant) while a World War II Spitfire flies overhead? You might even be lucky enough to catch an organ recital when you stop for tea and cake in the ground floor cafe.

But one of the best things about the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is that it is free to visit. So, if you ever find yourself in Glasgow (rainy or not), then why not take a trip to this brilliant museum. I defy you to leave without having found something that you like.

http://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/our-museums/kelvingrove