{"id":575097,"date":"2026-08-05T02:26:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T02:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/575097\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T02:26:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T02:26:16","slug":"a-vast-palace-of-curiosities-why-glasgows-kelvingrove-art-gallery-is-a-must-visit-uk-attraction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/575097\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A Vast Palace of Curiosities\u2019: Why Glasgow\u2019s Kelvingrove Art Gallery is a Must-Visit UK Attraction"},"content":{"rendered":"

In case you missed it, Time Out has unveiled its roundup\u00a0of the\u00a0greatest museums in the UK right now<\/a>. Our editors and writers picked 20 standout venues that pique your curiosity and feed your mind through their weird and wonderful exhibits, from a crab museum in Margate<\/a> to a museum of medicine in Leeds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve\u00a0spent the last few months\u00a0deep diving into what makes each museum on the list so brilliant and now it\u2019s the turn of number 14: Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow<\/a>. This museum is a monster of a place. It\u2019s filled with a formidable art collection (look out for Dal\u00ed, Van Gogh, Turner, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and more) and an\u00a0enormous spread of historical artefacts from\u00a0the city\u00a0and far beyond. Our writer called it a \u2018vast palace of curiosities\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are more than 8,000 artefacts displayed across\u00a0the 22 galleries. From the \u2018Life\u2019 gallery exploring natural and human history to the \u2018Expression\u2019 gallery full of fine art, you\u2019ll come across fascinating items like a 1944 Spitfire, a sarcophagus of ancient Egyptian nobleman Pa-ba-sa, dozens unnerving head sculptures hanging from the ceiling and a glorious display of Scottish trade union banners. If you visit at lunchtime, you\u2019ll be treated to the wonderful daily organ recital in its Centre Hall.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Sophie
\nPhotograph: ShutterstockSophie Cave\u2019s Floating Heads installation at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum <\/p>\n

The museum also hosts fantastic temporary exhibitions in its RBS Exhibition Gallery and the community exhibition space. Now until October, for example, it\u2019s hosting\u00a0Barbie: The Exhibition\u00a0which features more than 250 objects showcasing the history and legacy of the world\u2019s best known doll.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As if it couldn\u2019t get any better, this year the museum introduced a new audio guide from the one and only Billy Connolly<\/a>. The comedian regularly visited Kelvingrove as a boy with his dad and those personal ties are reflected in the guide, which\u00a0contains snippets of his early life and career. His fave exhibits include\u00a0Scottish artist Alasdair Gray\u2019s 1964 oil painting \u2018Cowcaddens\u2019, the medieval suits of armour, Sir Roger the stuffed elephant and\u00a0Salvador Dal\u00ed\u2019s \u2018Christ of Saint John of the Cross\u2019.<\/p>\n

Did\u00a0we mention that you can see all of that completely free of charge?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kelvingrove Art Gallery,\u00a0Argyle Street, Glasgow, G3 8AG.<\/p>\n

ICYMI:\u00a0Stonehenge is offering free private tours for the first time in over 100 years<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Plus:\u00a0One of Oxford’s best museums has had its biggest ever transformation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Stay in the loop:\u00a0sign up to our free Time Out UK newsletter<\/a>\u00a0for the latest UK news and the best stuff happening across the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In case you missed it, Time Out has unveiled its roundup\u00a0of the\u00a0greatest museums in the UK right now.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[437,434,435,436,252273,17797,438,146,252272,85,46,34023,867],"class_list":["post-575097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-audience-location-audience-united-kingdom","tag-categories-things-to-do","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-europe-united-kingdom","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news-city-life","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}