Two of our neighbors are
among Glasgow’s greatest cultural treasures. About a block away is the
Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery, opened in 1901 and one of the first buildings
here to boast electric lights. A massive organ dominates the main hall and
there are free concerts daily. Everything imaginable is housed here, from a
World War II Spitfire to dinosaur skeletons and taxidermy examples of other
extinct species to an impressive Impressionist collection to Dali’s
Christ of St. John of the Cross to medieval armor. Another attraction that
brings to mind the Victorian cabinet of curiosities is University of Glasgow’s
Hunterian Museum, which is chock full of the weird collections of Renaissance
man William Hunter. His medical specimens are cheek by jowl with remnants of
the Antonine Wall, which formed the northern border of Roman Britain, north of the Hadrian Wall. We
particularly liked the ornate silver drinking cups used by university faculty
and the throne-like chair with hourglass attached that was used to examine
students and is still pressed into service for classics examinations.
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Kelvingrove Museum |
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