Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, is 51 miles southwest of
Edinburgh. Located on the River Clyde it was and still is the center
of the UK's shipbuilding industry. However, its robust economy is diversified with large sectors consisting both of
manufacturing and finance. It seemed to us to be quite different from Edinburg, much less Gothic architecture, more like American
cities, some areas shabby and some elegant. We decided to visit this city largely because we wanted to see the
Burrell
Collection and because it was a gateway back to England. We were there only for a day, and visited two museums, the Burrell
and the
Kelvingrove. Unfortunately the Kelvingrove was closed for restoration, but some of the major parts of the collection
were on display in the
McLellan Gallery. We visited that instead. In all there are
13 museums in Glasgow.
We saw a large part of the city from the bus rides to the two museums.
People who live here are known as Glaswegians.
It is sometimes difficult to understand Glaswegians when they are speaking English. We have been told by Scottish people
from other parts of the country that they have the same difficulty. On one bus, a man came on and spoke with the driver for
at least five minutes. Neither Adelle or I understood one word this man spoke. And when Adelle was being instructed in
the use of a
Shopmobility motor scooter, I had to translate as best I could because she kept on saying "Would you please say that
again?" That was somewhat embarrassing because Shopmobility offers scooters free of charge, for which we were very grateful,
and it was obvious that the young chap who was trying to explain the scooter's operation was working very hard doing his best to communicate
to us two elderly foreigners, without a great deal of success.
It is worth visiting the city if only to see those two museums. The
Burrell is an art museum displaying the collection of Sir William Burrell, a wealthy industrialist who deeded his art collection
to the city of Glasgow in 1944. The building in which the collection is displayed is modern and beautiful, incorporating parts of
ancient buildings and whole rooms from the Burrell residence. The collection consists of all forms of art and architecture from
ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome and China through the medieval period and into the 20th century.
The McLellan is a more traditional
art museum specializing in art produced by Scottish artists. It was there that we came to appreciate the work of
Allan
Ramsay, an 18th century protrait artist, as well as the designs of a Glasgow favorite son, architect
Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a
leading figure in Scottish art nouveau.
