Tour of Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum examining the museum's entanglements in empire. Part of the Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival.

Museums in Britain benefited directly and indirectly from all forms of colonialism, whether through donations from individuals who worked in the colonies, formal collecting expeditions overseas, or the looting, seizure and dispersal of materials through imperial wars and conflict.

In recent years, debates about the repatriation of objects have captured headlines, but this is only one facet of the interconnections between museums and empire. What about the language used to describe objects and how they are exhibited? Is the history of European colonialism included in the version of the past that’s presented in museums? To what extent were European museums tools of empire and can a museum like Kelvingrove be decolonised?

Led by Dr Rosie Spooner, a researcher at the University of Glasgow, this walking tour of Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum is all about exploring these questions. Moving through various galleries, we'll discuss Kelvingrove’s links with slavery, colonialism and imperialism; recognise the ways this history continues to shape it today; and think about how museums can be spaces for having meaningful conversations about empire and its legacies.

Meeting point

The tour will start in the main central hall of Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, underneath the organ. Please meet Rosie there.

Accessibility

This event takes place inside Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum. Whenever possible, we will be stopping at locations where there are benches and other forms of seating. We will follow a route through the museum that makes use of lifts. There are toilets, including accessible washrooms and those equipped with baby changing facilities, throughout the building. Kelvingrove can be a noisy environment, particularly on weekends when it is especially busy. While the tour begins in the main central hall, we will for the most part be spending time in smaller galleries where noise levels are lower.

Organiser information

This event is part of the Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival 2026. The walking tour is led by Dr Rosie Spooner, a lecturer in the School of Humanities at the University of Glasgow.

Description supplied by the event organiser.