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Showing posts with the label French

Pollok House and Estate, Spanish Art, European Emblems and links to European language learning

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  Pollok House Pollok House is the last of a series of houses built on the same site, as homes for members of the ancient and celebrated Maxwell, later Stirling Maxwell family. Pollok House was gifted to the City of Glasgow in 1966, and is managed for the city by the National Trust for Scotland. https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/pollok-house Photos of Pollok House : J Wilson Spanish Art The elegant Georgian House, with a magnificent view south over and beyond the White Cart river, was built in 1752. It is fundamentally Georgian with sympathetic early twentieth-century additions. One of its most important aspects now though dates from rather later: the collection of Spanish art (as well as works by Rubens, Raeburn, William Blake and others) amassed by Sir William Stirling-Maxwell (1818-1878, initially William Stirling) who at different points in his career was the MP for Perthshire, Rector of both St Andrews and Edinburgh Universities, and Chancellor of the University of Glasgow. ...

Necropolis memorials to French and German figures from Glasgow industrial history

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The Glasgow Necropolis is a fascinating location and there is a huge amount of historical information that has been gathered and can be found on this website:  https://www.glasgownecropolis.org/ Three particular people we have highlighted here are the German Henry Dübs , the F renchman  Pierre  Jacques Papillon  and Professor Coats, who did some training in Wurzburg. All highlight the importance of European links in Glasgow's heritage. _____________________ Henry Dübs  At the Necropolis you can find a Memorial to Henry Dübs (1816 – 24 April 1876), a 19th century German-born engineer who worked in Glasgow. He was Works Manager and Company partner at Neilson and Company in Springburn, who built this locomotive for Finland : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_D%C3%BCbs . This exquisite technical drawing from Neilson & Company from the Science Museum collection: https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/documents/aa110094432/drawing-of-5-0-gauge-6-wheel...

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and 1990, when Glasgow was European Capital of Culture

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Glasgow has a thriving musical and artistic scene. In fact, the European Commission commented in 2019: "As the UK’s top cultural and creative city, Glasgow is home to world-class museums, galleries, family-friendly attractions and an edgy contemporary art scene that shows the city at its energetic finest." Photos : J. Wilson "Glasgow crowned UK’s top cultural and creative city", Sunday Post, 2019:  https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/396198/ The concert hall was built when Glasgow was designated as European Capital of Culture for 1990. Designed by Sir Leslie Martin, the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall was officially opened on 5 October 1990 by Princess Anne. Photo: J. Wilson It was also the venue for a famous speech by Gordon Brown about the benefits of being in the EU: https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/politics/uk-politics/188045/eu-offers-safety-net-tory-devastation-claims-gordon-brown-glasgow-rally/amp/ Being European Capital of Culture really gave the Glasgow arts scene...

Tigress and Cubs Statue by French Sculptor

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In Kelvingrove Park, this sculpture of a Tigress and Cubs was gifted to Glasgow by an ex Glaswegian John S.Kennedy, then living in New York. It was sculpted by  Auguste Nicolas Cain, a French sculptor . You can see his signature on the statue. Other similar statues by him can be found in New York Central and Les Jardins de Tuileries in Paris http://www.kelvingrovepark.com/heritage-tigress.html Photos : J.Wilson Map Reference: Eurowalk 5 : Around Kelvingrove

Glasgow War Memorial, George Square

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This war memorial is the work of Sculptor Ernest George Gillick ( 1874 – 1951)   and architect, John James Burnet and was erected in 1924. Photo: J Wilson Ernest Gillick, the sculptor was born in Bradford, the son of a local tailor and, aged 11, he left the city and went to Nottingham, where he was apprenticed to a lace designer. He then attended Nottingham School of Art, where he studied under the sculptor, Oliver Shepphard.  At Nottingham he won a scholarship that enabled him to study in London at the Royal College of Art, where he was tutored by the French sculptor, Edouard Lanteri, who helped Ernest obtain a traveling scholarship in 1902 to Italy and Paris. Europe where he gained inspiration for future work. Ernest’s work in the 1930s included sculptures on the memorial to The Missing, at the Vis-en-Artois war cemetery, France. https://www.notjusthockney.info/gillick-ernest-george/ John James Burnet is also mentioned on our tours regardi...

Kelvingrove - masterpieces of Spanish and Dutch Art to be seen! And The Glasgow Boys!

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The European Commission commented in 2019: "As the UK’s top cultural and creative city, Glasgow is home to world-class museums, galleries, family-friendly attractions and an edgy contemporary art scene that shows the city at its energetic finest."  And surely the top Museum venue in Glasgow is Kelvingrove Museum, which was constructed as the Palace of Fine Arts for the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1901 and designed by English architect Sir John William Simpson using red sandstone in Spanish Baroque style .  One of the external sculpted figures was carved by the Italian sculptor Aristide Luigi Fabbrucci (1859 - 1903) http://www.glasgowsculpture.com/pg_biography.php?sub=fabbrucci_a# . And another, representing "Religion" was carved by Johan Keller, born in the Hague, Netherlands and who became professor of Sculpture at Glasgow School of Art : http://www.glasgowsculpture.com/pg_biography.php?sub=keller_j# Within the museum itself, probably the most well known an...

Alliance Francaise and Goethe Institute

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  At 3 Park Circus, you will find the shared home of the  Alliance Française  of Glasgow and the Goethe-Institut Glasgow.  These cultural and language centres offer a wide variety of courses and facilities for learning French and German languages.   Photo : J.Wilson Goethe-Institut Glasgow -  https://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/en/sta/gla.html Alliance Française Glasgow - https://www.afglasgow.org.uk/   Map Reference: Eurowalk4: Woodlands to Sauchiehall