The Intriguing Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum can be found on 85 acres of picturesque grounds, in the Kelvin Park located in the West End of Glasgow. Among the many collections Kelvingrove holds are the finest and largest hand picked civic collections in Europe and Internationally. Kelvingrove also holds the title of being the museum and gallery most visited in the whole of Scotland and the sixth place in Britain with over one million visitors every year.
In the 1900’s a competition was held to find architects to build the Kelvingrove Gallery and Museum. E. J. Milner Allen and John W. Simpson were chosen to work together on a project that would end up taking nine years to complete the Spanish Baroque building in 1901. The façade of the building was finished off in red Locharbriggs sandstone while the inside was completed in yellow Giffnock, Ashlar and Locharbriggs sandstone.
Kelvingrove Park was one of the first Victorian parks to be created for the people in Glasgow who were at that point living in appalling conditions. Today it is still a well-loved historical park where you can find the equally historic Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. The money to build the Gallery and Museum was raised in 1888 when an International Exhibition was arranged and put on show at the Kelvingrove Park and later more money was contributed by the Town Council to help complete the building.
Some of the collections go back as far as 1854, like Archibald McLellan, an art collector who left his four hundred beloved paintings to the people of Glasgow but is now part of the galleries Old Masters collection. On the lower ground floor, where you will first enter, holds a Conference room, the Campbell Hunter Foundation Education Wing, the Royal Bank of Scotland Group Exhibition Gallery and a few restaurants, cafés and shops where you can get a bite to eat and buy yourself a souvenir to take home. The ground floor has a center hall leading to different rooms and features for visitors to explore. For instance you will find a Mini Museum for children less than five years of age as well as the Art and Environment Discovery Centers with interactive displays.
The first floor of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum covers an array of different art forms from different countries, as well as a number of subjects on things like Scottish Identity in Art, Sculpture Highlights and Picture Promenade, Conflict and Consequence and other informative topics. The first floor is where you will also find all the new facilities like the Study Centre, multimedia Object Cinema and the History Discovery Centre all with the goal of educating.
