In 1901 the imposing red sand stone building which all of Glasgow came to know and love, was completed and opened to the public. The art gallery is an amazing building from the outside and inside. Many a happy childhood memory was spent wondering about looking at all the exhibits on offer.
The ground floor of the art gallery now has a little museum all set up to encourage the tiny tots to explore all what the gallery has to offer. There is a sleeping beauty room which has hands on story books and costumes for the children to try on and pretend they are the prince or the princess.
A room has been set aside all decorated in pink including a princess bed and accessories for the children to use freely.
Once the children have stopped pretending they are princes and princesses for the day. They can head over to wildlife and past creatures section. There are lots of stuffed animals which can be seen including a huge elephant. The kids find this section really interesting and don’t appear to be put off by the stuffed creatures. Artists from the local Rennie Mackintosh art school in the city centre can often be found sitting sketching throughout the building but especially in the animal hall.
School projects can benefit from a visit to the Egyptian hall where tombs and other artifacts are found on display. Children can spend hours inside learning about their chosen school topic or project.
There are lots of hands on displays which you can contribute to or work with. Such as in the study of the environmental section on the ground floor.
There is a also a cafe, gift shop and organ on the ground floor. Visitors can be treated to organ playing on Sunday and from Monday to Saturday. The beautiful organ dates backs to the opening of the art gallery with free performances lasting up to 30 minutes most days and at the weekends.
Entrance into the museum at present is free with a box for donations if you wish to place a couple of pennies when leaving. Any paid exhibition such as the recent Doctor Who exhibition is held on the ground floor at the rear of the building. Any Doctor fans could enter the site and have a look at the behind the scene of their favorite TV show. You could pretend your were a dalek or cyperman or be held captive by any one of the doctors enemies. You could even have your picture taken outside the tardis. The exhibition attracted a lot of visitors to the museum as did the Kyle exhibition a few months before the doctor arrived.
The gallery has two floors crammed with unique and wonderful paintings and exhibits.