About
The Burrell Collection is one of the world's greatest personal art collections, gifted to Glasgow by shipping magnate Sir William Burrell (1861-1958) and his wife Constance in 1944. This extraordinary bequest of over 9,000 objects spans 6,000 years of human creativity from ancient civilizations to 19th-century European art.
Burrell's eclectic collecting interests created a collection of remarkable breadth and quality including medieval art, Chinese ceramics, Islamic art, stained glass, tapestries, furniture, paintings, and sculpture.
The purpose-built gallery opened in 1983 in Pollok Country Park, designed by architects Barry Gasson, John Meunier, and Brit Andresen to integrate seamlessly with its woodland setting. The innovative design incorporates natural light, creates intimate gallery spaces, and even reconstructs period rooms from Burrell's Hutton Castle home.
After a major £68.
25 million redevelopment completed in 2022, the collection reopened in a transformed building with new galleries, improved accessibility, enhanced interpretation, and state-of-the-art conservation facilities. The refurbishment revealed long-stored treasures and created spaces that allow the full collection to be appreciated.
The combination of world-class art in a tranquil parkland setting makes the Burrell Collection unique among UK museums.
Categories:
Highlights
Medieval and Renaissance Art
The Burrell Collection houses one of the finest collections of medieval art in the UK, reflecting Sir William Burrell's particular passion for this period. The collection includes over 800 pieces of stained glass from churches and cathedrals across Europe, spanning the 12th to 16th centuries. These luminous windows depict biblical scenes, saints, and heraldic designs in jewel-like colors.
Highlights include a complete 15th-century stained glass prophet series and English medieval glass from Canterbury and York.
The tapestry collection features magnificent woven hangings from France, Flanders, and Germany including a 16th-century 'Peasants Hunting Rabbits with Ferrets' tapestry showing remarkable detail and vivid colors. Medieval sculpture includes Gothic stone figures, carved wooden altarpieces, and polychrome saints.
Ecclesiastical metalwork features chalices, reliquaries, and processional crosses demonstrating medieval craftsmanship. The collection provides comprehensive overview of medieval European art and devotional culture rarely found outside major national museums.
Hutton Castle Rooms
Three period rooms from Burrell's own home at Hutton Castle in the Scottish Borders have been reconstructed within the museum, offering unique insights into how Burrell displayed his collections in domestic settings. The Hall, Drawing Room, and Dining Room feature original paneling, fireplaces, furniture, tapestries, and decorative objects arranged much as they were in Burrell's lifetime.
16th and 17th-century oak paneling creates atmospheric interiors furnished with period furniture including carved chests, chairs, and tables.
Tapestries hang on walls, Persian rugs cover floors, and medieval stained glass is installed in windows. Chinese ceramics, European paintings, and sculpture are displayed throughout, demonstrating Burrell's sophisticated eye for combining objects from different periods and cultures. These rooms show how collectors lived with their treasures and how domestic display differs from museum presentation.
The castle rooms provide context for understanding Burrell's collecting philosophy and offer evocative period atmospheres.
Chinese Art Collection
One of Europe's finest collections of Chinese art forms a major strength of the Burrell Collection, with over 2,000 objects spanning 5,000 years from Neolithic jades to Qing dynasty ceramics. Burrell had exceptional eye for Chinese ceramics, amassing outstanding examples from all major periods and kiln sites.
Highlights include Song dynasty celadons with their subtle jade-green glazes, rare Yuan blue-and-white porcelain predating Ming production, Ming dynasty polychrome wares, and Qing imperial pieces.
The collection is particularly strong in Tang dynasty pottery including tomb figures of horses, camels, and court attendants that reveal ancient Chinese life and beliefs about afterlife. Bronzes range from ancient ritual vessels to Ming censers. Jade carvings demonstrate Chinese lapidary mastery across millennia.
Paintings and textiles complement ceramic and jade holdings. The 2022 refurbishment created new Chinese art galleries allowing more of the collection to be displayed with improved interpretation explaining cultural contexts, manufacturing techniques, and symbolic meanings. This collection rivals those in dedicated Asian art museums.
Islamic Art
The Burrell Collection's Islamic art holdings span the Islamic world from Spain to India and from 8th to 19th centuries, featuring ceramics, metalwork, carpets, manuscripts, and architectural elements. The ceramic collection is particularly strong with lustrous Spanish-Islamic pottery, Persian and Syrian glazed tiles with intricate calligraphy and geometric patterns, and Iznik pottery from Ottoman Turkey with brilliant turquoise and coral-red colors.
Outstanding examples of Islamic metalwork include inlaid brass basins, ewers, and candlesticks from Mamluk Egypt and Syria decorated with Arabic inscriptions and intricate patterns.
Persian and Turkish carpets demonstrate weaving virtuosity with complex designs and rich colors. Architectural fragments include carved stone panels, wooden screens (mashrabiya), and ceramic tile panels that once adorned mosques and palaces. Illuminated manuscripts and Qur'ans showcase Islamic calligraphic art.
This collection provides comprehensive introduction to Islamic artistic traditions and demonstrates how Islamic cultures developed distinctive aesthetic approaches combining geometric abstraction, floral patterns, and calligraphy.
Collections
The Burrell Collection comprises over 9,000 objects gifted by Sir William Burrell and his wife Constance in 1944, making it one of the greatest personal collections ever assembled. Burrell's collecting spanned six decades from 1890s to 1950s, during which he acquired objects with discerning eye for quality across diverse cultures and periods.
Major collection strengths include medieval European art (especially stained glass and tapestries), Chinese art spanning 5,000 years, Islamic art, ancient civilizations, European paintings particularly 19th-century French art, and decorative arts including furniture, ceramics, glass, and textiles.
The collection reflects Burrell's philosophy that quality transcends category - he collected 'art' rather than specializing narrowly. His purchases demonstrate remarkable connoisseurship and prescient appreciation for areas then undervalued. The 2022 refurbishment allowed significantly more of the collection to be displayed for first time in decades, with approximately 90% now accessible compared to 20% previously.
Reserve collections available for research by appointment. The collection continues to inspire research, conservation, and public engagement, maintaining relevance 75+ years after Burrell's bequest.
Medieval Art Galleries
Stained glass, tapestries, sculpture, and ecclesiastical objects spanning 12th to 16th centuries, showing European medieval religious and secular art.
Chinese Art Galleries
Comprehensive display of Chinese ceramics, jades, bronzes, and works on paper spanning 5,000 years - one of Europe's finest Chinese collections.
Islamic Art Gallery
Ceramics, metalwork, carpets, and architectural elements from across the Islamic world, 8th-19th centuries.
Hutton Castle Rooms
Three period rooms reconstructed from Burrell's home showing how he displayed his collections in domestic settings.
Ancient Civilizations
Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Mesopotamian objects providing foundations for the collection's 6,000-year span.
European Paintings and Sculpture
Works from 15th-19th centuries including Dutch and Flemish masters, French Impressionists, and Scottish artists.
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.
Nearby Museums (5 within 6 miles)
Govanhill Baths Archives and Exhibition Space
Heritage & Culture
Govanhill, Glasgow — ~31 min walk (1.6 mi)