Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
glades edging the River Kelvin. Access to the main buildings and museums is from
University Avenue, running east from Byres Road. In the dark neo-Gothic pile under
the tower you'll find the
University Visitor Centre & Shop
which, as well as giving
information for potential students, has a small café, and distributes leaflets about the
various university buildings and the statues around the campus; from April to
September
guided
tours
of the campus are run from here.
5
Hunterian Museum
University Avenue • Mon-Sat 9.30am-5pm • Free • Kelvin Hall /Hillhead underground
Beside Glasgow University's Visitor Centre is the
Hunterian Museum
, Scotland's oldest
public museum, dating back to 1807. he collection was donated to the university by
ex-student William Hunter, a pathologist and anatomist whose eclectic tastes form the
basis of a diverting zoological and archeological jaunt. Exhibits include Scotland's only
dinosaur, Lord Kelvin's scientific instruments, some gruesome medical specimens and a
vast numismatic collection (coins, in other words).
The Hunterian Art Gallery
University Ave • Tues-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 11am-4pm • Free •
T
0141 330 5431,
W
www.hunterian.gla.ac.uk • Kelvin Hall /
Hillhead underground
Opposite the university, across University Avenue, is Hunter's more frequently visited
bequest, the
Hunterian Art Gallery
, best known for its wonderful works by
James
Abbott McNeill Whistler
: only Washington DC has a larger collection. Whistler's
portraits of women give his subjects a resolute strength in addition to their occasionally
winsome qualities: look out especially for the trio of full-length portraits,
Harmony of
Flesh Colour
;
Black, Pink and Gold:
he
Tulip
and
Red and Black: he Fan
, as well as his
dreamy night-time visions of the hames.
he gallery's other major collection is of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Scottish
art, including the quasi-Impressionist Scottish landscapes of
William McTaggart
, a
forerunner of the Glasgow Boys movement, itself represented here by Guthrie and
Hornel. Taking the aims of this group one step further were the
Scottish Colourists
; the
monumental dancing figures of J.D. Fergusson's
Les Eus
preside over a small collection
of work by this group, including Peploe, Hunter and Cadell, who left a vibrant legacy
of thickly textured, colourful landscapes and portraits. A small selection of
French
Impressionism
includes works by Boudin and Pissarro, with Corot's soothing
Distant
View of Corbeil
being a highlight from the Barbizon school.
Mackintosh House
Hillhead St • Tues-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 11am-4pm • Free •
T
0141 330 5431,
W
www.hunterian.gla.ac.uk
A side gallery off the Hunterian leads to the
Mackintosh House
, a re-creation of the
interior of the now-demolished Glasgow home of Margaret MacDonald and Charles
Rennie Mackintosh. An introductory display contains photographs of the original
house sliding irrevocably into terminal decay, and from there you are led into an
exquisitely cool interior that contains more than sixty pieces of Mackintosh furniture
on three floors. In addition, a permanent Mackintosh exhibition gallery shows a
selection of his two-dimensional work, from watercolours to architectural drawings.
The Botanic Gardens
730 Great Western Rd • Botanic Gardens: daily 7am-dusk; Kibble Palace: 10am-4.45pm/4.15pm in winter • Free •
T
0141 276 1614 •
Hillhead underground
At the top end of Byres Road, where it meets the Great Western Road, is Glasgow's
exotic and lush
Botanic Gardens
. he best-known glasshouse here, the hulking, domed
