When it comes to traveling to Scotland, the most common thing is that we aim in our itinerary to visit its impressive natural landscapes –from the Highlands to its countless islands, such as Skye-; its legendary places –from the Loch of the Ness monster to the battlefield where Braveheart died, passing through a thousand and one castles– and, of course, that fairytale city that is Edinburgh, a true open-air museum of Georgian architecture .
But barely sixty kilometers from the city where Harry Potter was born, there is a place just as interesting but unfairly forgotten by Spanish travelers: Glasgow. Anchored in the collective unconscious as a soccer city –which it is, and a lot–, Glasgow is also the largest city in Scotland and the third in the United Kingdom and, in its golden age, in the mid-19th century and in the heat of of the shipyards and factories, it even came to be the second, only surpassed by London.
Therefore, the main tourist attraction of Glasgow is its architectural heritage. Industrial architecture fills the city, which boasts two masterpieces signed by Sir Norman Foster – the SSE Hydro auditorium, known as The Armadillo – and Zada ??Hadid – the Glasgow Riverside Museum of Transport; but, above all, Glasgow is worth a visit just to see the architectural legacy of its favorite son, the versatile Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928), architect, designer and artist.
Considered one of the fathers of modernism, the footprint and influence in Glasgow left by Mackintosh is considered as important as that of Gaudí in Barcelona or Lloyd Wright in Chicago. Mackintosh is the creator of the Glasgow Style, a unique architectural style that blends the rugged Scottish school of stone with the clean lines of Japanese architecture and the intricate motifs of Art Nouveau. and the Scottish city treasures the greatest concentration of his brilliant work.
Mackintosh’s great masterpiece was the Glasgow School of Art. Considered since its construction as one of the most outstanding buildings of world architecture of the early 20th century, although a terrifying fire almost completely destroyed it in 2018. The institution is a one of the most prestigious art schools in the world –no fewer than six winners of the prestigious Tuner Prize have studied there–, and the political debate generated after the fire is equal in intensity, both to the destruction and to the architectural importance.
Considered “the British Notre Dame”, some rooms are open to teaching and, finally, the authorities have put on the table a plan for its scrupulous reconstruction -instead of the first intention to demolish it completely- budgeted at 100 million of pounds and that it should be finished in 2030.
Fortunately for the traveler, the gables and facades of Glasgow’s city center are brimming with scrollwork, Art Nouveau figures, and elaborate colonnades, and many interiors, with softly shaped furniture, display ingenious play of light and lovingly treated wrought iron. The influence that Mackintosh left as a legacy marked subsequent generations of architects, and is proudly displayed and protected, and beyond the many small works of the master that remain scattered throughout the city – a lobby here, a bar bar over there–, there are great works that give shape to a very interesting urban route.
In any British city, having afternoon tea is quite an experience. Steaming teapots, chicken and gherkin salad sandwiches and scones are never lacking in the ritual that, in Glasgow, can be enjoyed at the lovely Willow Tea Rooms on Sauchiehall Street.
Concluded in 1903, it is the only tea room signed by the author that has survived to this day, and it is precisely for this reason that it is managed by a foundation, created expressly to preserve them. Thus, it was scrupulously restored in 2018 and, today, visitors can enjoy afternoon tea in its beautiful Luxe room, have a drink on the roof terrace and enjoy an interactive exhibition in the same establishment.
For its part, the city university is the body that guards The Mackintosh House, a beautiful replica of the interiors of the house where Mackintosh and his wife lived, and which is located in The Hunterian Art Gallery. The original construction was demolished in the sixties of the last century and what we see today are the different rooms that made it up.
These rooms are copied in detail from the originals, from the location and orientation of the windows to the furniture designed by Mackintosh, which was the same one that furnished the original house, as well as numerous works of art such as drawings, plans, ceramics or designs.
In addition to furniture and other works by Mackintosh, the eclectic yet essential Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum –it can fit a Spitfire plane, a Dalí Christ or Viking goldsmithing– houses the world’s largest collection of Glasgow style works, wonderful glass samples decorated, forged and even reconstructed rooms according to the parameters of the movement.
Another example of how Mackintosh conceived architecture and design at the service of everyday life can be found at the House for an Art Lover. The building, located in Glasgow’s Bellahouston Park, was designed by Mackintosh as a country retreat and today is a center for artistic creation with exhibition halls and artist studios.
In the north of the city is the only religious building designed by Mackintosh, Queen Cross Church. The sober and clean design of the façade contrasts with the purest touches of Mackintosh, scrolls and floral motifs that run through the interior of the temple and frame gigantic Gothic-inspired windows. An authentic tour-de-force that has made the temple one of the most popular places in the city for holding events, including concerts – it could not be otherwise in Glasgow, which was recognized in 2008 by Unesco as a city of Music– and that it is a beautiful place to put the finishing touch to this route through Mackintosh’s Glasgow.
