Royal Exchange Square

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Royal Exchange Square

 

A public square in Glasgow, Scotland, the Royal Exchange Square is located at the junction of Ingram Street with Queen Street. A prominent landmark, the square has the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art sitting just inside it. A large Borders bookstore is also found here at the entrance of Buchanan Street. The square’s streets are lined with several restaurants and al fresco cafes.

There is a Duke of Wellington statue which stands at the entrance of Queen Street with a traffic cone on his head which had been placed there by youngsters as a joke. The City Council no longer saw this as an offensive prank but as a landmark and allowed the piece to remain where it was.

Around Christmas time, the Royal Exchange Square is a very bright place with a network of lights between the surrounding structures and that of the Gallery of Modern Art.

The Gallery of Modern Art was first opened in 1996 and is housed in a former home of William Cunninghame of Lainshaw, built in 1778 in a neoclassical style. William Cunninghame was a wealthy Tobacco lord in Glasgow and his building has been used for different purposes through the years.

The Royal Bank of Scotland acquired it in 1817 but it later moved to Buchanan Street. Afterwards, it

was converted into the Royal Exchange, David Hamilton was the one in charge of reconstruction.