Anyone had a peek at the refurbished Kelvingrove yet ?

[Mori]

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1372131.0.0.php

Revamped Kelvingrove ousts capital castle


The refurbished Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow has replaced Edinburgh Castle as the busiest tourist attraction in Scotland.

According to new figures produced by VisitScotland, the Glasgow attraction drew half a million more visitors in the six months since it reopened last year than Edinburgh Castle achieved in the whole of 2006. It is the first time the latter has been knocked off its perch as the most visited attraction in Scotland since VisitScotland started publishing the statistics 16 years ago.

Kelvingrove, where admission is free, received 1.9 million visitors after it opened its doors from July 11, 2006, after the three-year £27m refit.

About 1.2 million people visited Edinburgh Castle, which retained its crown as the top of the pay-to-see tourist spots.

More than 45 million people enjoyed Scottish attractions last year - a rise of 6% on 2005. VisitScotland said the reopening of Kelvingrove had a major impact on visitor numbers and accounted for most of the growth.

Chief executive Philip Riddle said: "Scotland's wide range of visitor attractions are a crucial part of our tourism industry.

[Mori]

Get your Votes in folks.

Last chance to vote for Kelvingrove for the UK's biggest arts prize

GCC

It's Scotland's most popular tourist attraction and now, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is up for the UK's biggest arts prize - and fans of the museum have just a few more days to register their support for the jewel in Glasgow's cultural crown.

Guardian

The annual Art Fund Prize awards £100,000 for the most imaginative and original museum or gallery of the year, based on projects they've undertaken in the previous 12 months. It's the largest single arts prize in the UK

The Centre of New Enlightenment at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, long-listed for The Art Fund Prize for the second time, is the UK’s most visited museum outside London and displays over 8,000 objects relating to art, science, history and natural history. The Centre of New Enlightenment is a programme of educational events and experiences.Read more about it here.

[Tamandee]

I've voted. It's not looking good for Kelvingrove though.

Dee

[rabmania]

I can't really vote as I haven't been to the others, but Kelvingrove is a sad disappointment to me. I was there for the re-opening, all agog, but it's a cafe with a gallery/museum tacked on. A Botticelli has a light show thing going on, too many paintings crammed in to small spaces, and the general aura of a kindergarten. Shame. I've been many times since, to give it a chance, but I don't like it!

[dazza]

I've been many times since, to give it a chance, but I don't like it!

I concur. I can't abide the place now. It used to be tranquil, and now it is over-run with screaming kids. Now, I'm not saying there shouldn't be children there - far from it. After all, we all remember visiting it as children, whether it be part of a school trip or with family. But it's like walking into a large branch of the "Early Learning Centre" now.
Also,many of the displays are already starting to look tired, dusty and tatty. I get the impression that things have been set up with the attitude that it'll be ok to just leave them sitting there for the next 100 years with no regard for variety or an attempt to change them around with the museum's vast collection in storage. All they care about is the bloody Egyptian collection and that friggin' Dali. It's depressing.

[wee minxy]

I agree Dazzababes and Rabmania. another thing I've noticed, especially upstairs, its very difficult now to stand well back to admire the larger paintings, all sorts of stuff cluttering the middle of the floor

[Tamandee]

I agree with what's been said above. The museum is not what it was, unfortunately. But it is the Centre of New Enlightenment which has been nominated. I haven't seen it and not much likelihood of me getting down to have a shufty for quite a while. Has anyone here been to it?

Dee

[mrsam]

[quote="dazzababesBut it's like walking into a large branch of the "Early Learning Centre"[/quote]
try working in one , the shelves are falling down, and the stock can be illconcieved but at least the people are nice.

Yep the Kelvingrove was nicer before but museums full of thing typologicaly arranged are no longer cool, withit, and 'sellable' to the modern powers that be. Interactivity is the museum order of the day

Hope the Embra based Chamber Street Museum of Scotland survives but I fear the worst.

Mr Sam

[shuttle534]

Does anyone else get the feeling that the gallery has been dumbed down? By that I mean that it feels as though it is arranged to try and keep peoples pea sized attention spans happy. My other gripe was that there seemed to be either no or very little information about the exhibits on display. I want to know a bit more about what I'm looking at.
I was in Toronto last year and felt that the galleries I visited there put our attempts to shame, as did the ones I visited in London.

[dazza]

Does anyone else get the feeling that the gallery has been dumbed down? By that I mean that it feels as though it is arranged to try and keep peoples pea sized attention spans happy. My other gripe was that there seemed to be either no or very little information about the exhibits on display. I want to know a bit more about what I'm looking at

That's kinda' what I meant by my observations above. Apparently children (or adults, I guess) now have a very short attention span, so everything now has to be hands-on and interactive to keep them interested.
Contrary to your thoughts about no information, I feel that the gallery exhibits have the effect of a mallet over the head, telling you "This is what this is! This is what this means! This is what they were trying to achieve!", with no real allowance for personal contemplation or interpretation.

[onyirtodd]

Does anyone else get the feeling that the gallery has been dumbed down? By that I mean that it feels as though it is arranged to try and keep peoples pea sized attention spans happy. My other gripe was that there seemed to be either no or very little information about the exhibits on display. I want to know a bit more about what I'm looking at

That's kinda' what I meant by my observations above. Apparently children (or adults, I guess) now have a very short attention span, so everything now has to be hands-on and interactive to keep them interested.
Contrary to your thoughts about no information, I feel that the gallery exhibits have the effect of a mallet over the head, telling you "This is what this is! This is what this means! This is what they were trying to achieve!", with no real allowance for personal contemplation or interpretation.

I guess the comments above just go show to show you can't please all off the people all the time.

I'd thought the purpose of small chunks exhibitions was to make it easier to rotate the stuff held over at Nitshill and elsewhere. Kelvingrove clearly isn't the place it was when I was being taken around it 50 years ago. I regret the loss of the ship models for example but it's still a bloody good day out and, of course, it's still free.

Shuttle's comment about museums elsewhere may be a reflection of the amount money these other museums have. Mike Russell seems to be talking a lot about rectifying the funding issue with 'non-national collections' but we've yet to see the colour of his money.

[AzimScot]

Does anyone know if the gems, crystals and diamonds in the art gallery are real or artificial? Not that I am planning a raid

[Fossil]

Does anyone know if the gems, crystals and diamonds in the art gallery are real or artificial? Not that I am planning a raid

Yes

[wee minxy]

Does anyone know if the gems, crystals and diamonds in the art gallery are real or artificial? Not that I am planning a raid

Yes

Yes you know, or yes they are real?, ya wee bisom