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Gallery of Modern Art

Gallery of Modern Art

David Hamilton

Photo: BrainiacBlink · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Glasgow, Scotland
Client / Owner
William Cunninghame of Lainshaw
Year
Completed 1827
Access
Public
Typology
Cultural

The Gallery of Modern Art stands in Royal Exchange Square in Glasgow. The building began in 1778 as the townhouse of William Cunninghame of Lainshaw. The Royal Bank of Scotland bought it in 1817, and David Hamilton reconstructed it from 1827 to 1832 as a Neoclassical building. Glasgow District Libraries bought it in 1949, and a library opened in 1954. The gallery opened in 1996.

The Queen Street facade has Corinthian pillars, and a cupola rises above the building. Niki de Saint Phalle made the mirrored pediment and vestibule in 1996. An equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington by Carlo Marochetti, from 1844, stands outside and is often topped with a traffic cone.

It is a contemporary art gallery with temporary exhibitions, workshops and a café. Visitors numbered 576,689 in 2019, and Banksy's Cut and Run drew 180,000 in 2023.

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