WHERE IS IT?

Kelvingrove Art Gallery is situated within Kevlingrove Park in the West End of Glasgow. The museum is open 7 days a week and is free of charge.

The whole building was completed refurbished over 5 years since 2001, the whole process taking nearly 3 years just to remove most of the exhibits from the gallery to a purpose built storage facility in the east end of the city. Some exhibits however were too large to move, just as a stuffed elephant, and such exhibits were boxed up whilst refurbishment works carried on around them.

When Kelvingrove reopened in July 2006, it quickly re-established itself in the hearts of Glaswegians and visitors alike. Prior to closing the gallery had just over 1 million visitors a year, on its opening day, over 15,000 people visited. By the time of the official opening in September 2006 by Her Majesty the Queen, nearly 1 million visitors has visited.

Attractions range from a Spitfire LA198 suspended from the roof as if it was flying through the galleries, allowing it to be viewed from below and above, to the Salvador Dali masterpiece Christ of St John of the Cross.

Other exhibits range from stuffed animals, statues, french, italian and dutch paintings, a Charles Rennie Macintosh exhibit, dinosaur fossils, basically you name it, Kelvingrove has it.

The refurbishments works allowed 50% extra space to be available for exhibits, mainly by opening up a new basement and the removal of offices. However the building is still not large enough to house all the exhibits at once, so 10% of the exhibits are changed each year.

Kelvingrove truly is a wonderful place to visit, for people of all ages. The only downside is that parking is very limited, but public transport is very good, with a number of buses stopping right outside, and an underground station being around 10 minutes walk.

It's well worth a visit.