Monitoring Desk
The Burrell Collection in Glasgow, which holds more than 9,000 artworks donated by Sir William Burrell in 1944, reopens to the public after a five-year, $89.2 million revamp.
“Visitors will again appreciate one of the world’s great museums and enjoy the quality and beauty of the works left to Glasgow by Sir William and Constance, Lady Burrell in its spectacular home in Pollok Country Park,” Bridget McConnell, chief executive of the Glasgow Life charitable organization, said in a statement. “It is a museum for all.”
Closed since October 2016, the museum was redesigned by John McAslan and Partners to add 30 percent more gallery space. Previously, only 20 percent of the museum’s collection—which features Northern European medieval and Renaissance art; examples of Chinese and Islamic artworks; as well as paintings by French masters such as Manet, Cezanne, and Degas—was installed at any one time.
On view now are some works that have not been on display for decades.
View of an immersive digital experience in the Central Galleries. Courtesy of the Burrell Collection.
The museum’s opening in 1983 was regarded as a milestone for the transformation of Glasgow, which hoped to reverse its fortunes as a fading industrial city. It was estimated in 2017 that the refurbished Burrell Collection building would bring an annual £1.86 million ($2.4 million) in economic activity to the city.
The museum’s collection results from more than 75 years of collecting by Sir and Lady Burrell. After donating it to Glasgow, Sir William kept on buying until his death in 1958. The collection was described by Sir Hector Hetherington, the former head of Glasgow University, as “one of the greatest gifts ever made to any city in the world.”
See more images of the refurbished museum below.
The Burrell Collection in Glasgow. Courtesy of the Burrell Collection.
View of the Color Gallery. Courtesy of the Burrell Collection.
View of Upper Gallery Stonemasons. Courtesy of the Burrell Collection.
View of Guandi, the god of war, and Leigong, the god of thunder, in the North Gallery. Courtesy of the Burrell Collection.
Courtesy: artnet
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