Dear Green Place 22 - Glasgow Necropolis

Spent most of the day in the mediaeval heart of the city. First at St Mungo's Museum of Religious Life and Art -- today is their 20th anniversary. Enjoyed hearing the story of St Mungo, the founder and patron saint of Glasgow, from Hopscotch Theatre. As part of the museum's birthday celebration visitors were asked to write about their favourite exhibits: my favourite item is the colourful Dancing Skeleton celebrating the Day of the Dead -- made specially for the museum by a family from Mexico.

This is the view of the Glasgow Necropolis (the City of the Dead) from the top of the museum, with the monument to John Knox dominating the skyline. The monument was build there while the area was still known as Fir Park, before it became the city's first planned cemetery. Most of the tombs and monuments commemorate City merchants, industrialists and entrepreneurs from the 19th and early 20th Century.

We stopped at the Cathedral on the way to the Necropolis and inadvertently got a personal tour of the Cathedral, so it was a much longer stop than planned... but very interesting.

The most common interpretation of the name Glasgow is 'the dear green place', but some believe that Glasgow means 'the place of the grey rock'. The grey rock being Fir Park, now Glasgow Necropolis. Either way, this is the area where St Mungo is believed to have first settled and founded Glasgow, so you have a blip from the origins of the City.