Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art

Opened in 1996, the Gallery is housed in an elegant, neo-classical building originally constructed in 1778 as an enormous townhouse in the heart of Glasgow city centre. Built by the tobacco baron William Cunninghame, it has had several incarnations. In 1871 it was purchased by the Royal Bank of Scotland before becoming the Royal Exchange. Refurbished at a cost of £6 million, half of which came from city funds, it offers a wonderful choice of services ranging from the latest computer technology, guided tours, restaurant facilities and a library with special amenities for the disabled. There are dedicated state-of-the-art studios containing workshops where artists regularly give talks and demonstrations.

The collection houses works by internationally famous painters such as Andy Warhol and David Hockney, filmmaker and artist Niki de Saint Phalle and Brazillian photographer Sebastião Salgado. British painters in the collection are represented with works by Bridget Riley, Peter Howson, Beryl Cook, David Mach, John Bellany and Ken Currie. The gallery has achieved some unusual local light-hearted notoriety in that the building is fronted by a statue of the Duke of Wellington on horseback. The Duke appears regularly with an orange traffic cone on his head. No sooner is it removed by the authorities than another appears in its place.