St Mungos and GOMA

Yesterday, 8 September, Chris and I decided on a visit to St Mungo’s Cathedral and the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art. These two buildings are adjacent. A short walk to Black Sheep café for morning coffee and then up a slight hill to the Cathedral precinct.

The museum is named after the city's patron saint who brought the Christian faith to Glasgow in the 6th century. It is built on the site of the medieval Bishops’ Castle and is designed in its style. The galleries are full of displays, objects and stunning works of art that explore the importance of religion in peoples’ lives across the world and across time. It covers each of the world’s major religions as well as an occasional off-shoot. We enjoyed the exhibition. It was not earth-shatteringly deep, but then, it couldn’t really be, what with the libraries of books written about religion, but it gave a decent shot at covering the basics. We lingered in there longer than I had anticipated, so I think we both found it interesting.

Then across the way to St Mungo’s Cathedral. It is a 13th century building constructed on a 12th century former church site. It is old and looks and feels old. It is now a Church of Scotland cathedral and has a dividing screen two thirds of the way down the nave, like Westminster Abbey. Vaulted ceilings and massive columns hold everything up, and there’s lots of stained glass letting the light shine through in many colours. Underneath is a crypt with the tomb of St Mungo and a number of chapels. All in all, it was interesting to see it even though it has scaffolding around its tall spire at the moment. As usual in Glasgow, I took plenty of pics of buildings on our way there and back again. Lunch at a hidden gay owned Spanish bar restaurant.

Today, 9 September, we set out for a Black Sheep brekky because we enjoyed yesterday’s so much. After that, we decided on a visit to GOMA, the Gallery of Modern Art. I was not sure what to expect. For me, there is modern art and there is modern art. The building itself is a marvel, and frankly, much more interesting than any of the exhibition pieces inside it. It was originally a private residence, a bank, a bourse, and something else that escapes me now. It has a statue of of a mounted Duke of Wellington out the front of it that was inaugurated in 1844. But Glaswegians for over forty years have put a traffic cone (witch’s hat) on his head. The Council fought hard, an epic tale in itself, but in the end, the people won out and the cone is here to stay. They say it’s about Glasgow’s sense of humour, but I do wonder if there is not a bit of anti-English sentiment in that cone too.

As for the exhibition, nothing arrested me and nothing tugged at me emotionally. This afternoon we strolled through a historic cemetery, the Ramshorn, which was really beautiful. Light rain fell as we walked slowly through the trees.

A drink at the Ivy afterwards, then a good rest before a Nandos dinner. This has been our last day in Glasgow. We leave tomorrow, ultimately for York, but with a two night stop-over at Durham on the way. It will be nice to be on the road again.Read more