Situated on the River Clyde the Industrial Revolution made Glasgow once one of the world’s largest shipbuilding and engineering centres.

Today Glasgow is home to many Scottish businesses and is one of the top twenty European financial centres. Glasgow will host the Commonwealth Games in 2014 with a new campus and new sporting venues being planned and built in the city.

GLASGOW UNIVERSITY is one of the ancient Scottish universities having been founded in 1451. The main campus of the university has been in Glasgow’s West End since 1871 but the university started out around Glasgow Cathedral and for many years was at Rottenrow and a 13 acre site on High Street. In addition to the three universities in the city other higher educational establishments include, The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and the famous Glasgow School of Art, housed in a Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed building.

The ‘DEAR GREEN PLACE’ is how Glasgow is often referred to on account of there being over 90 public parks and gardens in the city. Pollok Country Park is the largest and houses the world famous Burrell Collection. Wealthy industrialist Sir William Burrell gifted his art collection to the city in 1944 on the condition that it was housed at least 15 miles from the city centre to avoid pollution. The museum was finally opened in 1983 by the Queen. Pollok was voted Best Park in Britain in 2007 and Best Park in Europe in 2008. Glasgow Green is by far the oldest park in the city being gifted as common lands to the people of Glasgow in 1450 by Bishop Turnbull.  Within Glasgow Green are The Peoples Palace and Winter Gardens, a small museum and glasshouse telling the social history of Glasgow from 1750. Today Glasgow Green hosts many events including the World Pipe Band Championship, attracting pipe bands from all over the world.

FOOTBALL has played an important part in the social history of Glasgow. The world’s first international football match was played in the city in 1872, resulting in a 0-0 draw between Scotland and England. Hampden Park and Ibrox are Scotland’s only two UEFA 5 Star rated stadiums, making them eligible to host UEFA Champions League or UEFA Cup finals. There are three senior football teams in the city, Celtic FC, Partick Thistle FC and Rangers FC. In 1967 Celtic FC became the first British team to win the European Cup. Rangers FC too have had success in Europe, winning the Cup Winners Cup in 1972.

The CITY CENTRE is laid out on a grid system on the north bank of the River Clyde. The two mainline rail terminuses, Glasgow Central Station and Queen Street Station are in the city centre area as is the Buchanan Street Bus Station. Glasgow’s retail shopping is the second largest and economically important in the UK outside of central London. The main shopping areas are in and around Buchanan Street and Argyll Street with large shopping centres in the Buchanan Galleries and the St. Enoch Centre. There are up-market and designer label outlets in the Princes Square and Italian Centre shopping areas. Most of Scotland’s national arts organizations are based in the city including, Scottish Opera, Scottish Ballet, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the National Theatre of Scotland and the Scottish National Youth Theatre. There are also a number of theatres in the city centre.

GLASGOW has over 20 museums and galleries, all with free admission. The magnificent Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum at Kelvingrove houses the city’s principle collection of paintings. Nearby, the Transport Museum houses Trams, Locomotives and many fine shipbuilders models from the Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary liners to HMS Hood, all mighty ships built in Glasgow. Other museums include the Gallery of Modern Art and St Mungo’s Museum of Religious Life and Art, the UK’s only museum celebrating the world’s many religions.