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life during performances. A unique art form, Sharmanka (Russian for barrel organ or
hurdy-gurdy) is at once hypnotic, playful and deeply poignant, with its mechanical
sculptures, or “kinemats” imprisoned in their relentless routine, while choreographed
lighting draws you from one part of the show to the next and rather sinister
fairground-style music plays in the background.
5
The East End
East of Glasgow Cross, down Gallowgate beyond the train lines, lies the East End , the
district that perhaps most closely corresponds to the old perception of Glasgow.
Hemmed in by Glasgow Green to the south and the old university to the west, this
densely packed industrial area essentially created the city's wealth. he Depression
caused the closure of many factories, leaving communities stranded in an industrial
wasteland. Today, isolated pubs, tatty shops and cafés sit amid this dereliction, in sharp
contrast to the gloss of the Merchant City only a few blocks to the west. You're definitely
off the tourist trail, but unless you're here after dark it's not as threatening as it may feel,
and there's no doubt that the area offers a rich flavour of working-class Glasgow.
hree hundred yards from Glasgow Cross down either London Road or Gallowgate is
the Barras , Glasgow's largest and most popular weekend market (see p.215). By way of
contrast, the East End now features some shiny new attractions too: an arena and the
Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, built in preparation for Glasgow's hosting of the 2014
Commonwealth Games.
Glasgow Green
Between London Road and the River Clyde are the wide and tree-lined spaces of
Glasgow Green . Reputedly the oldest public park in Britain, the Green has been
common land since at least 1480, when it was first mentioned in records. Glaswegians
hold it very dear, considering it to be an immortal link between themselves and their
ancestors, for whom a stroll on the Green was a favourite Sunday afternoon jaunt.
Various memorials are dotted around the lawns: an Adams triumphant arch rescued
from the demolished Assembly Rooms on Ingram Street, with panels featuring he
hree Graces and Apollo with his lyre; the 146ft-high Nelson Monument ; the ornate
terracotta Doulton Fountain , rising like a wedding cake to a pinnacle where Queen
Victoria oversees her Empire; and the stern monument extolling the evils of drink and
the glory of God that was erected by the nineteenth-century Temperance movement -
now a meeting place for local drunks.
Opposite Templeton's Carpet Factory you can still see lines of Victorian washing
poles , recalling the days when the Green was very much a public space in daily use.
Templeton's Carpet Factory
On the northeast side of the Green, just beyond the People's Palace, at 62 Templeton
Street, it's worth taking a look at the extraordinary Templeton's Carpet Factory , a
massive brick and moulded terracotta edifice of turrets, arched windows, mosaic-style
patterns and castellated grandeur designed in the style of the Doge's Palace in Venice
and built in 1892. It has been converted into apartments, but also houses the West
Brewing Company's excellent bier halle and microbrewery (see p.212).
The People's Palace
Glasgow Green • Mon-Thurs & Sat 10am-5pm, Fri & Sun 11am-5pm • Free • T 0141 276 0788, W glasgowlife.org.uk uk •
St Enoch underground
The People's Palace houses a wonderfully haphazard evocation of the city's history. his
squat, red-sandstone Victorian building, with a vast semicircular glasshouse tacked on
 
 
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