THE BURELL MUSEUM

           One  of Glasgow's Great Museums

The Burrell Museum in Glasgow, Scotland sits just six miles out of the city. I was looking forward to visiting the Burrell as I’d heard a lot about it.

En route our guide told us, “Sir William Burrell made millions as a merchant and shipping agent. After his retirement in 1928 he started buying art and artifacts. He was particularly interested in porcelains. He was the first person to bid at an auction by telephone.

“In the 1940s he summoned the city to send someone to go look at his collection. The 17-year-old who was sent was stunned by the quantity and quality of what he was shown. The next day someone more qualified was sent to peruse the collection. Burrell was willing to give the whole collection, of over 9000 pieces, to the city with the condition that it remain in the city, be placed in a country setting, where it would be out of the inner city pollution, and be free to the public.”

The many boxes were stored for years unopened. Then in 1967 a fellow by the name of MacDonald left his large wooded estate, Pollack, to the city. The farmland of the estate was sold saving 65 acres for the museum. And of course after the clean air act of 1967 pollution has ceased to be a problem. A large glass building dominates the museum which the Queen opened in 1984 saying, “No city ever received a greater gift from one of her children.”

         Only the Frick collection in New York exceeds the Burrell collection in size. Burrell owned the Hutton castle and died in 1958 so he did not see his collection displayed. It is so large that only 20% of it is shown at any one time. Parts of the mixed collection including art, porcelain, tapestries, and wood dates back centuries. One could visit numerous times and still not see all of the spectacular collection. We spent so much time enjoying  the museum that we cut our lunch time very short, and  I had to add ice to my lentil soup to cool it enough to gulp it down

            The forest seen through the back glass wall is a wonderful backdrop for this museum. What a wonderful collection! The huge hanging tapestries were unbelievable and from the second story we had an excellent view of them. It probably took some one a whole lifetime to make just one.

Driving out of the museum grounds, our driver stopped the van so the guide could explain the rather strange but familiar animal grazing nearby.  The Highland cow, which is referred to as the Heeland coo, looks like a cow, has short horns, and a long shaggy amber brown coat. We were to see many of them later in our travels.