Location: City Centre
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10 Monuments & Statues in City Centre That You Shouldn't Miss
As Scotland’s largest city, Glasgow is famed for its culture, shopping and people. Spend your day exploring a wide range of fascinating free museums and galleries, enjoying the UK’s best shopping outside of London, and taking advantage of tips from friendly local people on the city’s hidden gems — then choose from 130+ weekly musical events for a special night out. Glasgow is also the perfect base for exploring more of Scotland, with great connections to the Highlands and the islands.
Restaurants in Glasgow
1. Duke of Wellington Statue
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 691 reviews
An iron statue of the Duke of Wellington.
Reviewed By johnhouston2 - Knaresborough, United Kingdom
Arguably, in a country festooned with thousands of historic grand and artistic statues, this one of the Duke of Wellington in Glasgow city centre is the most iconic. I read an article by a Glasgow journalist and her opening lines seemed to explain it all. “Edinburgh has the Castle. London has Big Ben. And Glasgow? Well, Glasgow has a statue with a traffic cone on its head.” But before further comment re the traffic cone, here’s the official bit: The equestrian Wellington Statue is a statue of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. It is located on Royal Exchange Square, outside the Gallery of Modern Art near the end of Ingram Street and was sculpted by Italian artist Carlo Marochetti and erected in 1844. For the best part of 140 years, the statue stood on its plinth without much fanfare, but that all changed in the early 1980s, when a traffic cone mysteriously started appearing on top of the Duke of Wellington’s head. Nobody knows how the practice began and most theories suggest that a drunk reveller in the city centre scaled the statue after a night out in order to adorn the Duke with his new accessory. In Glasgow? Surely not! At various stages, the city council has removed the cones and tried to come up with schemes to halt the practice altogether. Despite such attempts however, the cone has remained for over 30 years, and whenever a cone is removed, it is only a matter of days before a new one appears in its place. In 2013, the council proposed a scheme to double the height of the plinth in order to deter intrepid cone fans, but the immediate and emphatic backlash from the Glaswegian public showed that the practice was not widely considered an act of vandalism, but rather a representation of local culture, and within 24 hours, a ‘Keep the Cone’ Facebook page had accumulated over 72,000 fans who united in opposition of the council’s plans. It is clear that the statue with the cone on its heid has become one of Glasgow’s most iconic images and in 2011 the ‘Coneheid’ statue was named by Lonely Planet as one of the top ten most bizarre monuments on Earth. And I must say that I agree with the founder member of the Keep the Cone campaign when he said: “The cone represents an important part of the city’s identity – Glasgow’s unique sense of humour. It’s a harmless way of ‘sticking it to The Man’ and it simply gives people a laugh or reminds them of good times.” And even the authorities have shown a bit of pragmatic common sense and have finally realised that the statue with the traffic cone means more to the heritage of Glasgow than the statue itself ever has.
2. Glasgow Cenotaph
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 7 reviews
Reviewed By macedonboy - Glasgow, United Kingdom
The Glasgow Cenotaph is a large granite cenotaph is located in the eastern side of George Square. The centre is a large obelisk and at the two side are 2 large lions, guarding the memorial. Originally built as a monument to those who lost their lives in WW1, it now also commemorates those who lost their lives in WW2. It's a worthy memorial.
3. G.I. Bride Statue
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 3 reviews
Reviewed By macedonboy - Glasgow, United Kingdom
A character from Bud Neill comic strips. G.I Bride is shown here as she would've appeared in the comic. That is, forever trying to thumb a lift home back to Scotland with her wean. Like the Lobey Dosser comic, G.I Bride is not something you'll likely know about unless you happen to be Glaswegian or a Bud Neill fan or extraordinaryly worldly comic fan. If you're in the city and especially if using Partick Station, it's worth a small detour to see a funny little statue.
4. Homeless Jesus Statue
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 12 reviews
Reviewed By JohnHenery - Bo'ness, United Kingdom
A large life-sized bronze sculpture by Timothy Schmalz in Nelson Mandela next to the church just off Buchanan Street shopping precinct. Well worth seeing for one of those reflective moments.
5. Monument to Maternity
6. Citizen Firefighter
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 13 reviews
Reviewed By weekak - Edinburgh, United Kingdom
This is another of Kenny Hunter's amazing pieces to commemorate the work of firefighters. Citizens firefighter is situated outside Glasgow's central station. I love all Kenny's work and this is one of my favourites.
7. Prince Albert Statue
8. Robert Burns Statue
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 12 reviews
Reviewed By johnhouston2 - Knaresborough, United Kingdom
Arguably, there are more statues of Robert Burns throughout Scotland than any other person, yet his statue here was not officially commissioned and only came about following the launch of a public subscription by Burns’ fans. Such was the popularity of Burns that the public subscription was filled very quickly and the statue to Scotland's national poet was erected on 25 January 1877, 118 years after his birth. As another example of his popularity, 10,000 people are said to have formed a procession from Glasgow Green to attend the unveiling, with as many as 30,000 lining the streets. The bronze statue is the work of sculptor George Edwin Ewing, and was cast by London art founders Cox & Sons. Four bronze reliefs by the sculptor's brother, James Alexander Ewing, depict scenes from the bard's poems. And during the unveiling of the statue, a comment by the President of the Burns Foundation is worthy of note: “There are two statues in George Square which represent Scottish Poets. One is to Thomas Campbell who was so famous that he was buried in Poets corner in Westminster Abbey. Yet he is little remembered today. The other Poet never got as far as London, in life, let alone death. Yet he is remembered throughout the world to this day. It is to Robert Burns Statue that we come today to commemorate 200 years since he died.”
9. James Watt Statue
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 13 reviews
Reviewed By macedonboy - Glasgow, United Kingdom
One of Scotland's greatest sons, this is a statue of the great inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist, James Watt, best known for his work on the steam engine. It's in George Square and definitely worth visiting even if only in the city centre of Glasgow. After all, the S.I unit of power was named him.
