People's Palace, Glasgow facts for kids
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| Established | 1898 |
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| Location | Glasgow Green, Glasgow, G40 1AT, Scotland |
| Visitors | 223,774 (2019) |
The People's Palace and Winter Gardens is a famous museum and glasshouse in Glasgow, Scotland. It's located in Glasgow Green and first opened its doors on January 22, 1898. A special guest, The 5th Earl of Rosebery, officially opened the building.
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Discovering the People's Palace History
The idea behind the People's Palace was to create "palaces for the people." This meant building places where everyone could enjoy culture and learning. Glasgow's People's Palace was inspired by similar ideas in other cities. At the time, the East End of Glasgow was a very crowded area. The People's Palace was built to be a fun and educational spot for everyone living there.
The building was designed by Alexander B. McDonald, the City Engineer. It features cool sculptures by William Kellock Brown that show things like Art, Science, and Industry. When it opened, Lord Rosebery called it "A palace of pleasure." He said it would be "Open to the people for ever and ever."
Exploring the Museum's Collections
When the People's Palace first opened, the ground floor had rooms for reading and relaxing. The first floor was a museum, and the top floor was an art gallery. Since the 1940s, it has become the main museum for Glasgow's social history. It tells the story of the city and its people from 1750 until today.
The museum shows how Glasgow has changed over time. You can see what life was like for people in the city. For example, there are displays about living in a "single end," which was a small one-room home. You can also learn about "The Steamie," a place where people did their laundry together. The museum also shows what nights out were like at "The Dancing" (like the famous Barrowland Ballroom). And you can see how people took trips "Doon The Watter" (down the Firth of Clyde) on steamers like the Waverley. On the first floor, you can even find the campaign desk of John MacLean, a famous Scottish socialist.
Challenges and Reopening Efforts
In the 1990s, the People's Palace closed for almost two years for important repair work. It reopened in 1898, exactly 100 years after it first opened. The Winter Gardens, the big glasshouse behind the museum, were also fixed up. The glass was replaced, and the gardens were tidied.
In January 2019, both the People's Palace and Winter Gardens closed again. This was because the building was found to be unsafe. Some rare plants from the Winter Gardens had to be moved. The People's Palace section reopened in June 2019 after some repairs. However, the Winter Gardens stayed closed because the material holding the glass in place was old and needed to be replaced.
Fixing the Winter Gardens is a big job, costing millions of pounds. For a while, there wasn't enough money to do the repairs. This made some people worry that the Winter Gardens might never open again. But in January 2024, good news arrived! Money was given by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to help with the restoration. This funding will help bring the Winter Gardens back to life. The full restoration project is expected to cost around £35.9 million.
Art and Landmarks at the Palace
As part of the restoration, an artist named Ken Currie created special paintings for the museum's ceiling dome. These eight paintings show the history of Glasgow's workers. They start from the Calton weavers Massacre in 1787 and go all the way to the present day.
In 2005, a huge fountain called The Doulton Fountain was also restored. It was moved to its current spot right in front of the museum. This fountain is 46 feet tall and 70 feet wide at its base! It's the biggest terracotta fountain in the world. It was given to Glasgow in 1888 to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. The fountain has a statue of the Queen and figures representing different parts of the British Empire.
The People's Palace Cat
In the 1980s, a cat named Smudge became quite famous around the People's Palace. Smudge even became a member of a workers' group called the General, Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trade Union! This happened after another group, NALGO, wouldn't let her join because she was a "blue collar worker" (a term for manual laborers).
