Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery
The Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Glasgow is the oldest public museum in Scotland . It is located in several buildings on the main university campus to the west of the city of Glasgow , Scotland.
History of the museum
The museum opened in 1807. At the time, it was in a purpose-built building on High Street, near the university. When the university was rebuilt in the west of the city on Gilmorehill (to escape the overpopulation and pollution in the city center) the museum moved with it.
The money to build the museum and much of its original exhibits came from the legacy of the Scottish anatomist William Hunter , who died in London in 1783 .
In addition to his medical collection, which resulted from his own work, Hunter collected a variety of exhibits. Often he was supported by his royal and aristocratic patrons. He and his colleagues roamed Europe looking for coins, minerals, paintings and prints, or even ethnographic material. Hunter's eclectic legacy makes up the bulk of the exhibition, but it has grown considerably since his death. It now contains some of the most important works by artists such as Charles Rennie Mackintosh and James McNeill Whistler . It also offers an excellent selection of geological, zoological, anatomical, archaeological, ethnographic and scientific instruments.
In order to hire a curator for the museum, King George III donated. 1807 the Regius Chair of Natural History . The professors taught geology and zoology and expanded the collection at the same time.
The buildings of the museum and the art gallery
The museum's collections are exhibited in several buildings on campus:
The Hunterian Museum
Located in the university building on Gilmorehill planned by George Gilbert Scott , the museum offers a number of exhibits from William Hunter's collection: Scotland during the Roman occupation (especially the Antonine Wall ), geology, ethnography, ancient Egypt, scientific instruments, coins and medals and more .
The Zoology Museum
Most zoological exhibits, including those of William Hunter, are on display in a separate museum in the Graham Kerr building named after Regius Professor from 1902 to 1935, John Graham Kerr , which also houses the university's research and teaching (zoology) facility is housed. When Kerr took office, the chair was renamed the Regius Professor of Zoology and accordingly Kerr only taught zoology. It is also open to the public. The insect collection is particularly important and large.
The Hunterian Art Gallery
The gallery is now in a modern, purpose-built building that is part of the university's large library complex . It houses the university's large art collection and has a sculpture garden . The bas-relief of the aluminum entrance to the Hunteriangalerie was designed by the sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi . The exhibition contains a large number of works by James McNeill Whistler and a large number of the watercolors by Charles Rennie Mackintosh .
The Machintosh House (Mackintosh House)
The Machintosh House is a modern concrete building and part of the gallery-library complex. Like the neighboring buildings, it is housed in a series of terrace houses that were demolished in the 1960s to make way for the growing university in the residential area on Gilmorehill . The architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh once lived in one of the houses (although he did not design it himself). The university rebuilt the buildings (using modern materials) in the exact position where they had been before. (In fact, a door is now about 6 meters up, as a lot of soil was removed in the construction.) Mackintosh House contains some original woodwork from the old terraces. The original furniture in the house is all a Mackintosh design with original decorations.
Other Hunterian museums
William Hunter's brother John , a surgeon , also founded a museum. The Royal College of Surgeons of England in London houses a large part of his collection. Both brothers are honored in their hometown of East Kilbride in the small Hunter House Museum.
literature
- Lawrence Keppie : William Hunter and the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow, 1807-2007 . Edinburgh University Press, 2007.
Web links
- The Hunterian Museum of the website (English)
- The catalog of Hunterians (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d unknown: Veterinary, Medical and Life Sciences. Zoology. In: University of Glasgow website. University of Glasgow, accessed December 31, 2018 .
Coordinates: 55 ° 52 ′ 18.7 ″ N , 4 ° 17 ′ 19 ″ W.