Public votes to turn Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson’s Egyptian Halls in Glasgow into Museum of Slavery
The Union Street building needs extensive repairs and has been empty for decades due to stalled deals and disputes.
Last updated 12th Jun 2020
A proposal to turn Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson’s rundown Egyptian Halls into a Museum of Slavery has won a public vote.
The Union Street building, regarded by many as the architect’s finest work, needs extensive repairs and has been empty for decades due to stalled deals and disputes.
The Alexander Thomson Society launched a competition last year, asking designers around the world to draw up creative ideas for its future use.
It has now revealed the winner of a public vote on their favourite entry and the “most appropriate” use for the privately-owned building, a Museum of Slavery.
The design, by Gavin Fraser from Polmont, had also been commended by the competition’s judges.
Mr Fraser stated: “When we walk around Glasgow, not so far from Union Street we can see many remnants of Glasgow’s grizzly slave related history: the Merchant City, Virginia Street and Jamaica Street to name but a few.
“But beyond this contextual reference to slavery, we see the remnants of its lucrative life within Glasgow’s fine buildings from the 19th century.
“Indeed, the ornamentation, wealth and construction of these buildings, civic and otherwise, are all reflections of our slaving past, with nothing to commemorate or recognise this history.”
Glasgow councillor Graham Campbell has previously said a museum could be opened in the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) due to its links to the slave trade.
That building was once the home of William Cunninghame who profited from the slave trade and tobacco plantations in Virginia.
The Alexander Thomson Society said the GOMA would be a “fitting option” but “would be at the expense of an existing cultural institution”.
It added while the A-listed Egyptians Halls “doesn’t have the historic relevance that GOMA does to Glasgow’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade, it is still located in the heart of the city, close to the river, and to Jamaica St – so named for the connection between Scotland and Jamaica, the place where the majority of Scottish slavers were based”.
Zandra Yeaman, from the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights, said: “It’s particularly heartening to know that the hundreds of people who took part in the public vote also support this initiative.
“CRER has been campaigning for this for over a decade now, and even the Scottish Parliament have now shown their support.
“Community involvement and participation will be crucial to ensure the context and content of the museum credibly reflects the lives, origins and experiences of Black minority ethnic people in Scotland, and the task ahead is huge.
“We’ve asked the Scottish Government to fund a comprehensive scoping study to begin to make this a reality, and the use of the Egyptian Halls as a potential venue should definitely be explored further.”
The Egyptian Halls was shortlisted as one of Europe’s 14 most at-risk cultural sites by Europa Nostra, a pan-European heritage body, last year.
Almost 4500 people have signed a petition calling for the building to be saved.
The result of the public vote was set to be announced in April but was postponed due the coronavirus pandemic. It has been published now as it relates to the “current public discussion” about how Glasgow addresses its history.
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