The Hidden Glasgow Forums

by **YokerBloke** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 5:42 am

Opening date is the 11th of July according to the hanging banners

by **Monument** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 4:12 pm

Picture taken with my phone today, but not too bad quality. My accomplice will have better pictures.

And I can recommend the restaurant.

by **glasgowken** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 4:52 pm

The new lettering is up, but I was on the bus, and couldn't get a photie.
Don't like the font they've chosen.

groan groan groan

by **shortie** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 5:06 pm

Getting my sneaky peek on sunday 9th july managed to get a ticket via the eveningtimes along with another 1998 people (2 people per ticket) can't wait because I don't fancy trying to fight the crowds on the 11th hope to sneak my camera in don't see why not.

by **Ally Doll** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 8:01 pm

glasgowken wrote:The new lettering is up, but I was on the bus, and couldn't get a photie.
Don't like the font they've chosen.

groan groan groan

I saw them putting it up the other day - I don't like it either!

by **Bonz** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 11:09 pm

I'm off there today (Saturday) to have a wee look about. I'll let y'all know how I get on!!!

by **glasgowken** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 4:11 pm

Some photos from Kelvingrove.
(The usual apologies for the duff photos, my camera doesn't handle low light very well, but i've included the blurry ones anyway)

The new sign, with the boring font.

by **Sharon** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 4:38 pm

The place is looking great!!

And I happen to like the choice of font. Nice and clean and un fusssy. Impact? Helvetica Narrow? hmmmm Anyway i like, only had a glimpse of teh other branding though, so i await judgment.

by **Vladimir** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 4:54 pm

Is it just me seeing this, or are all the visitors pensioners! ::):

by **Tamandee** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 5:04 pm

Love the owl on the banisters. Unfortunately they seem to have unearthed even more stuffed dead animals, fish and birds.
I hope the Fairy Raid is on the wall. That's my favourite painting of all time. It never fails to please. Can't wait to go down and see.
The old place looks great after its good wash and brush up. Thanks very much for the wee sneaky peek.

by **viceroy** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 5:13 pm

Didn't realise you were there as well today Ken. I was passing by this afternoon and saw a whole crowd of people going in. Since most of them seemed to be of more mature years and since I definitely fall into that category myself, I decided to sneak in along with them. It was only when I was leaving that I discovered that these were all Friends of Glasgow Museums [or is it Friends of Kelvingrove?] who had been invited for a strictly private preview. So my first visit to the new Kelvingrove has been a clandestine one!

Were you impressed? I certainly was. The internal reburbishment has been beautifully done [as your photos show] - the whole place looks so much brighter and crisper than before. My main interest has always been the paintings and most of them look a lot cleaner. This is more to do with relighting the pictures I think, rather than actual cleaning [which I imagine would have been hugely expensive].

The only quibble I have is that they've gone for a thematic approach so that the paintings are mostly jumbled up with all sorts of other stuff. This also made some of the galleries a bit fussy and crowded I thought. But no doubt I'll get used to it. Also, the captions on the exhibits seem to be almost exclusively directed at schoolkids, which is fine from an educational point of view but feels just a wee bit condescending when you read them as an adult.

But other than that they've done an absolutely brilliant job!

by **glasgowken** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 5:25 pm

Ah, I wish i'd know you were there viceroy

Yep it's the 'Friends of the Glasgow Museum' organisation, for some reason 99.9% of them are OAPs

(or so it seems)

My overall impression was good, the place goes on & on, you could easily get lost in it, and that's a good thing. But i'm a moaning git, so a few gripes,

Firstly those heads....what can I say, i'm taking a BB gun next time to deal with them.
The much promoted basement didn't seem that impressive, it's a restaurant and not much else.
The Egyptian room is tiny, i'm sure there's a lot missing, was it sent back to Egypt or something ?
Don't like the new reliance on artificial light in the side rooms, there's now blinds on every window, although I appreciate it's to stop the exhibits fading, & deteriorating, in the sun.
Lastly, the Spitfire is out of place, it looks like it's strafing Roger, it should have went into the new Transport Museum.

On the whole, not bad.
The wee metal owl is cute, I think it's a running theme, the top of the stairs had a tiny knight's helmet. I forgot to check the other staircases. It's nice to see little details like that.

by **viceroy** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 5:47 pm

Yeah, the heads. Couldn't quite make my mind up about those. Need to see them a few more times I think.

I didn't take much notice of the basement actually - just went straight up the stairs to the main hall.

And yes, it does look as if poor Roger is about to receive a magazinefull of tracer bullets up his bahookey. Like you I think the Spitfire looks rather out of place at Kelvingrove and the Transport Museum would be a more appropriate place for it.

by **Pripyat** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 6:05 pm

Good selection of photos Ken. Will have to wait another
7 days before I can have a look myself, arranging the
day off work.

Agree with the two of you, the spitfire would be more at home
in the transport musuem. I'm not keen on the heads,
it's a bit abstract for my tastes.

Hope there is still a good selection of paintings on display
and they haven't been on the lean and selective side.

by **Ally Doll** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 7:39 pm

Fab pictures Ken, can't wait to get a look around! The whole place looks stunning.

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Anyone had a peek at the refurbished Kelvingrove yet ?

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