The equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington sits outside the Gallery of Modern Art, identifiable by the orange traffic cone perpetually perched on the Duke's head. While the statue commemorates the British victor at Waterloo, the cone…
George Square and Merchant City
This walk takes you from the grand civic heart of George Square through the elegant, historic streets of the Merchant City. You'll see how Glasgow evolved from a medieval trading hub into one of the richest powerhouse ports of the British Empire.
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1. Duke of Wellington
2. George Square
The iron statues standing in George Square possess a peculiar history of misidentification. When the city commissioned a monument to Sir Walter Scott in eighteen thirty-seven, they topped the tall fluted column with his likeness. However,…
3. Glasgow City Chambers
The Glasgow City Chambers features a massive facade of polished granite and sandstone topped by a towering central spire. Queen Victoria opened this building in eighteen eighty-eight to demonstrate the city’s immense wealth during the…
4. Saints of Ingram
The Saints of Ingram stands out with its ornate stone carvings and the distinct, repurposed architecture of a former bank building. Originally serving as the headquarters for the Union Bank of Scotland, the structure features heavy granite…
5. Ramshorn Graveyard
The Ramshorn Graveyard is defined by its high, barred perimeter walls that separate the quiet, sunken headstones from the busy Merchant City streets. It remains as the final resting place for several of Glasgow’s wealthiest seventeenth and…
6. Merchant Square
The tall, red sandstone arches of the Old Fruitmarket dominate Merchant Square, framing a vast indoor courtyard where the city once traded produce. By the mid-nineteenth century, Glasgow merchants filled this space with the scents of…
7. Britannia Panopticon
The Britannia Panopticon is a wooden, horseshoe-shaped balcony tucked behind a plain facade in the Trongate. It is the oldest surviving music hall in the world, opened in eighteen fifty-seven. Performers like Stan Laurel made their…
8. Tolbooth Steeple
The Tolbooth Steeple rises as a lone stone tower at the intersection of High Street and Trongate. This relic is all that remains of the seventeenth-century Glasgow City Chambers, which once served as the city’s administrative hub and…
9. St Andrew's in the Square
St Andrew's in the Square features a massive, pedimented portico held up by six giant Corinthian columns, a design that deliberately mimics the Roman temple style. It was completed in seventeen fifty-seven for the city's wealthy tobacco…