Gallus Glasgow R: Religious buildings

April 21, 2015 30 Comments

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.

St Mungo Museum

Glasgow Cathedral

Glasgow Cathedral and Necropolis

Some details from the museum:

St Mungo Museum

Courtyard

Drinking fountain

Interior view

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:

By RonAlmog, (Flickr page) (Flickr) CC BY 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5), via Wikimedia Commons

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.

A to Z Challenge 2015, Scotland, UK Glasgow, Glasgow Cathedral, Museums, Religious buildings, St Mungo, St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art

30 Comments »

Lori L MacLaughlin
May 12, 2015 at 18:12

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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- Anabel Marsh
  May 12, 2015 at 19:20
  
  York is a favourite of mine – though Durham is my absolute favourite.
  
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  - Lori L MacLaughlin
    May 13, 2015 at 02:37
    
    I just looked up Durham. Wow, that’s impressive.
    
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    - Anabel Marsh
      May 13, 2015 at 07:06
      
      It’s near where I grew up, so possibly a bit biased…..
      
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Alex Hurst
April 23, 2015 at 06:12

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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- Anabel Marsh
  April 23, 2015 at 07:47
  
  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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Fee
April 22, 2015 at 09:17

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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- Anabel Marsh
  April 22, 2015 at 09:20
  
  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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