I’m not a big fan of modern art as regular readers will know but Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art is free to explore and I was intrigued by the history of the building itself. The gallery was opened in 1966 but the building dates from 1778 when it was the townhouse of William Cunninghame a tobacco merchant and slave trader.
The building was bought by the Royal Bank of Scotland in 1817 and then became the Royal Exchange from around 1827. It has a lovely glass dome above the entrance and a permanent exhibition about the building’s history.
One of the exhibitions I did like was the suffragette movement with displays such as the below posters.
Outside the entrance is a statue of the Duke of Wellington sculptured by Carlo Marochetti in 1844 and is famous for always being decorated with a traffic cone that no one ever bothers removing these days.
It’s a nice place to explore. You can find more photos here.
Louise Jayne's Blog 
Why’d they put the cones there?! I think it’s ruining the sculpture and the artist wouldn’t be proud to see his work that way. Great museum and I always wonder how they keep sculptures black and shing for ages.
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I think a lot of alcohol was involved the first few times, then they just stopped taking it down because people would just keep putting it back.
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Lol. That’s funny.
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