Glasgow Museums

Museum of Transport Glasgow & The Tall Ship at Glasgow Harbour

Situated in Glasgow's museum bustling West end Kelvingrove district, the Museum of Transport is a good museum for families and children. With a particular Glasgow edge, exhibits, vehicles and transport memorabilia cover both land and sea. Treasures include the oldest surviving pedal cycle and a collection of Scottish built cars from Argyll, Arrol Johnson and Albion.

Glasgow's important shipbuilding history is given due attention through exhibits of ship models and details on the mighty shipbuilding companies that once lined the River Clyde. Maritime trade, and Glasgow's historic importance as a trading port are also explored. Clyde built ship models include the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth 2. Other transport features include railway heritage covering the Caledonian Railway, the Highland Railway and Glasgow trams as well as the famous Glasgow subway.

Alongside a visit to the Museum of Transport, head down to the waterfront and Glasgow Harbour for a look at the Tall Ship, the Glenlee which was built at the Bay Yard in Port Glasgow by Archibald Sterling and Co.Ltd. She first stailed in 1896. It's a good Glasgow attraction for kids this one, with an educational slant towards Glasgow's shipbuilding history.

Museum of Transport, 1 Bunhouse Road, Glasgow, G3 8DP. Tel. 0141 287 2720. Click on the Glasgow Museums weblink right for more details on the Museum of Transport. It's situated just across the road from the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. News on the forthcoming new Transport Museum in Glasgow (to be based on Glasgow Harbour in the Tall Ship area - bringing all of Glasgow's Shipbuilding, Maritime and Transport history under one roof - can be gathered from the Glasgow Museums weblink right. The design for the new building is impressive, and the waterfront area of the Clyde around Glasgow Harbour is set to get a real boost from the development.

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Royal Highland Fusiliers Museum Glasgow

Just to the east of central Glasgow's Charing Cross Railway Station sits the Royal Highland Fusiliers Museum on Sauchiehall Street.

This army museum explores the history of three regiments from which the Royal Highland Fusiliers are descended. The collection of silver, weapons, uniforms and militaria are spread across two floors in chronological order starting from 1678. Photographs, pictures and video screens trace the history. There's a shop, library and lecture theatre on-site, and the building has a Rennie Mackintosh influence.

The Royal Highland Fusiliers Regimental Museum, 518 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3LW. Tel: 0141 332 0961. (weblink right)

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Kelvingrove Museum & Art Gallery Glasgow

Get ready for the Kevingrove Museum & Art Gallery in Glasgow's Westend - it's the biggest civic museum in the UK boasting both extensive museum exhibits and an art gallery. You can't miss the building, it's enormous in what's been described as a Spanish baroque style.

A key focus at Kelvingrove is art, with an excellent collection particularly of Scottish art with works here by the Glasgow Boys who rebelled against Victorian sentimentality from 1880 to 1895, the Scottish Colourists and of course Mackintosh and Glasgow Style. Alongside the art collections museum exhibits take a close look at Glasgow life through the centuries. Checkout the Glasgow Stories area in the Ground Floor West Life exhibit where there's some pretty hard hitting stuff looking at Violence Against Women, Glasgow Sectarianism, Emigration for Scots from Glasgow and elsewhere in Scotland and there's information on James Watt's invention of the steam engine which propelled Glasgow to a leading city in the industrial revolution.

Other exhibit areas explore Scotland's Wildlife and wide ranging subjects such as the Holocaust and remembering for the future. The art collections are impressive indeed including Rembrant, Degas and there's an excellent introduction to Glasgow Style and Charles Rennie Mackintosh here as well as the MacDonald Sisters.

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Argyle Street, Glasgow, G3 8AG. Tel. 0141 276 9599. (see the Glasgow Museums weblink right for details). A cafe, shop and lift to all floors are on-site, plus children are well catered for in various exhibits targeted at them, for example the Mini Museum section is hands-on fun for the under 5s.

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Glasgow's Botanic Gardens, Kelvingrove

Glasgow's historic Botanic Gardens situated in attractive Kelvinside in Glasgow's West End district is renowned particularly for its superbly enormous and ornate Victorian glasshouse (or rather collection of glass houses).

The Kibble Palace glasshouse (an A listed 19th century curvilinear iron structure) has seen some extensive restoration recently (now completed). As well as the glasshouse there's a selection of themed horticultural and botanical exhibits of plants, with formal gardens, walks along the River Kelvin, huge collections of tropical orchids, begonia, tree ferns, trees and shrubs. Particular gardens include the Herb Garden, World Rose Garden and Uncommon Vegetable Garden. Also on-site is a visitor centre and Children's Garden. Hillhead Underground Station is just a 5 minute walk away.

Glasgow Botanic Gardens, 730 Great Western Road, Glasgow, G12 OUE. Tel. 0141 334 2422/3354. (see Glasgow City Council details on Botanic Gardens/weblink right).

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More Glasgow Museums

Scotland Street School Museum, 225 Scotland Street, Glasgow, G5 8QB. Tel. 0141 287 0500. (see Glasgow Museums weblink right for details - the building was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh between 1903 and 1906, and inside the museum explores Scottish educational developments over the years).

Provand's Lordship, 3 Castle Street, Glasgow, G4 0RB. Tel. 0141 552 8819 (see Glasgow Museums weblink right for details - a surviving Medieval House).

Open Museum, 200 Woodhead Road, South Nitshill Industrial Estate, Glasgow, G53 7NN. Tel. 0141 276 9368 (see Glasgow Museums weblink right - a good one for kids). Fossil Grove, Victoria Park, Glasgow G4 0RH. Tel. 0141 287 2000. (see Glasgow Museums weblink right for details). Fossil Grove opens daily from April to September and includes an ancient collection of fossil trees millions of years old. These plants, called giant clubmosses, are now extinct but once thrived in swampy tropical forests which once covered the land over the Glasgow area. Debris from such plants went on to form the distinctive coal seams around Glasgow, on which it grew into an industrial powerhouse. Interesting connections like this come from a visit to Fossil Grove.

Hunterian Museum, Main/Gilbert-Scott Building, University Avenue, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ. Tel International 00 44 141 330 4221 (0141 330 4221). Recently refurbished, permanent exhibitions include the story of Dr William Hunter founder of the museum, objects from the Whistler and Mackintosh House collections, a superb collection of Scottish art and displays based around the Glasgow scientist Lord Kelvin (after which the Kelvingrove area is named. The Hunterian Museum and nearby Hunterian Art Gallery is part of the Glasgow University complex in the West End.

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