Gallus Glasgow R: Religious buildings
St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art was the first in the world to cover all major world religions together. It sits next to Glasgow Cathedral (1197) and superficially looks almost as old, but it dates from the late 1980s. The Scottish baronial style was deliberately chosen to emulate the Bishop’s Palace which used to sit on the same site. In the images below, the third building you can see is the Royal Infirmary.
Some details from the museum:
The Cathedral is Church of Scotland and there are, of course, many more Christian denominations represented in Glasgow as well as buildings for other world religions. For example, Glasgow Central Mosque:
Garnethill Synagogue:
And Gurdwara Guru Granth Sahib:
Most religious buildings which have been mentioned in the Challenge so far have been converted to other uses. This is a small, and by no means comprehensive, selection of those which still fulfil their original purpose.
Tomorrow in S we’ll look at some art – but not in a gallery.
The Glasgow Gallivanter 
Lovely buildings! Some of the most beautiful buildings we saw when we were in Britain were religious buildings — Salisbury, York, and Canterbury Cathedrals are the first ones that come to mind. I like that there is such a diversity of religious buildings in Glasgow.
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York is a favourite of mine – though Durham is my absolute favourite.
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I just looked up Durham. Wow, that’s impressive.
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It’s near where I grew up, so possibly a bit biased…..
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I agree with N J! The buildings are beautiful, and I love that the building, even though built in the 1980s, uses the old style. I wish more buildings would do so, but I think the expense would be unrealistic. It has such a lovely charm to it.
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It’s so much more in keeping with the medieval surroundings. The oldest house in Glasgow is just across the road, one for a future A to Z maybe!
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I absolutely adore St Mungo’s. My Dad took me there to see Dali’s Christ of St John of the Cross in the mid nineties and it had a profound effect on me, such a powerful work. Another wonderful post 🙂
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There was a lot of controversy about hanging it there and it was eventually returned to Kelvingrove. I agree, it is wonderful.
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The images tell a story of their own, and you do a great job allowing them center stage. One thing about religious architecture is the amazing beauty and endurance.
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Art is a great way of learning about the different religions – physical expression of what they believe.
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I hope the cathedral is still how it should be and not converted into a pub or anything like that. I am glad the museum took a more traditional route-looks much better than modern blotches.
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No, I can assure you that the cathedral is exactly as it should be! Maybe next year (laughs uproariously) I’ll do C for Cathedral and take you inside.
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When my husband and I took our first trip to Europe together, we loved looking at the churches. They are so amazing! We also learned that the Jews in Rome are the most continuous settlement of Jews in the world, because they were never driven out and thus have more than a 2,000-year-old history.
So, yeah, love looking at religious buildings and learning about their history. We also saw some buildings in Edinburgh (not churches) that were built in older architectural styles to make them look older than they are…this is so cool.
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I didn’t know that about the Jews in Rome! Yes, I love looking round old churches too. There are also some great ones in North America – maybe not so old – so it works both ways.
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The Synagogue is beautiful here!
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It’s lovely, inside and out.
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Another great post. I love the wee bell. Brilliant. Seems odd in a religious museum though.
TD Harvey
A to Z participant
http://www.tdharveyauthor.com
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Thank you! I’ll need to do more investigations and post about it.
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I really like the synagogue. I like the way it is surraounded by trees and green 🙂
But all this buildings are nice, and it’s nice thay all ‘live’ in the same city.
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The synagogue is beautiful inside too.
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This might be a strange comment, but I like the drinking fountain which says – Keep the pavement dry. Is there a story behind that? Is it for birds? Humans? Both? Is that a bell hanging above it?
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Not odd at all, I was very taken with it! It sits in a corner of the garden and there was a plaque which told you that it was made in a local iron foundry. It’s purely ornamental now, unless the birds use it, but I don’t know why it has ended up at the Museum of Religion.
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Oh, and yes – it’s a wee bell.
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I love seeing different religious buildings. The only one I’ve actually visited was the Buddhist Centre though, and that was when I was at university.
Cait @ Click’s Clan
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You have the advantage of me there, I haven’t been to that one.
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I’m always amazed by the architecture and art of historic religious buildings. I’m impressed by the Museum of Religious Life and Art. I wasn’t aware there were any museums, other than very large comprehensive art museums, that covered all religions.
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It is a lovely museum – has some interesting changing exhibitions too.
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Some of the prettiest buildings are religious buildings. This post actually reminded me of a trip I took for 8th grade humanities. We went around Vancouver to four different places of worship and took part in different ceremonies and meals all day. It was a great experience.
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That sounds good! I have been in both the mosque and the synagogue pictured but not the gurdwara. A large, new one is being built quite near us so I’m hoping they’ll have an open day.
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Oooo~! I like religious buildings for the bit of peace and quiet they offer in the middle of a noisy city. Having those that are generous with food is also nice. 😛
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