The Burrell Collection, housed in a purpose-built gallery in Glasgow’s Pollok Country Park, is a remarkable collection of over 9,000 artworks and objects gifted to the people of Glasgow in 1944 by shipping magnate Sir William Burrell and his wife, Lady Constance. Begun in the 1870s, the collection includes objects from ancient civilisations, European art, arms and armour, tapestries, stained glass, furniture, architectural fragments and one of Europe’s most important collections of Chinese art.

The collection was in storage for many years because Sir William’s stipulations about how it should be housed and displayed made finding a suitable venue difficult. He insisted on a countryside setting to protect the objects from the air pollution of Victorian Glasgow’s heavy industry but he also wanted it to be easily accessible. Finally, a new gallery was designed and built in Pollok Country Park to the south of the city and opened in 1983. Since then, a major refurbishment has increased the amount of space for displaying the collection by opening new areas of the building to the public. A great way to find out more about the collection is to join one of the free guided tours. The guide on my recent visit was knowledgeable about the man behind the collection as well as the artworks themselves so that I left with a better understanding of how Sir William approached collecting and why he gifted the lot to his native city.