Riverside Museum opens its doors

The world-renowned contribution to transport of Scotland's largest city is being celebrated in a new landmark museum.

The £74 million Riverside Museum has been built on the banks of the River Clyde, the famous waterway where many of the world's greatest ships and locomotive engines began long journeys overseas.

The Tall Ship Glenlee, which has been berthed alongside the museum, has also been re-opened.

The new waterfront complex was designed by internationally acclaimed architect, Zaha Hadid, began in 2007.

The attraction, at the heart of the Glasgow Harbour regeneration development, is home to around 3,000 objects — more than double the number on show at the old museum.

Star exhibits include a 74 feet long Glasgow-built steam engine which has been brought back to Scotland from South Africa after 60 years.

Other attractions include three streets spanning the years 1890 to the 1980s; a 1950 Daimler car once owned by King George VI; a historic bicycle collection including the oldest bike in the world – and a car wall display.

Glasgow Councillor Gordon Matheson who carried out the formal opening ceremony said:

"The Riverside Museum is a breathtaking new home for our internationally-renowned transport collection.

"The exhibits inside this magnificent new building have been given a further lease of life thanks to some stunning new displays that not only show off the trains, cars, trams and bikes, but also tell the stories of the people who made them, bought them, used them and loved them."

The new museum is being funded by Glasgow City Council, the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Riverside Museum Appeal.

Riverside Museum Project

Focus on the Tall Ship Glenlee

Berthed alongside the new museum will be the tall ship SV Glenlee. The historic vessel was built in Port Glasgow and took to the sea in 1896, working as a bulk carrier.

She circumnavigated the globe four times and survived passing through the fearsome storms of Cape Horn 15 times before being bought by the Spanish navy in 1922 where it was used as a training vessel until 1969.

The ship was operated as a training school until 1981 when she was laid up in Seville Harbour until discovered by a British naval architect in 1990.

The Glenlee was purchased by the Clyde Maritime Trust and was restored over a six year period.

The tall ship, which has been at Glasgow's Yorkhill Quay for 12 years, is one of only five Clydebuilt sailing ships that remain afloat in the world.

River Clyde, Glasgow: Did you know?

• The Cunard shipping line was founded in Glasgow and the liners Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, QE2 and the Royal Yacht Britannia were all built on the River Clyde at Clydebank.
  
• The Waverley, the world's last ocean-going paddle steamer was built in 1947 by A & J Inglis on the River Clyde in Glasgow. It remains on the Clyde today, where countless passengers continue to enjoy a trip 'doon the watter'.
  
• By the 1900s Clydeside was producing around 25 per cent of the world's ships
  
• The first shipyard was established on the River Clyde in 1712 and since then over 25,000 ships have been built on the Clyde
  
• Billy Connolly, the comedian and actor, was born in Partick in Glasgow in 1942 and worked in a Clyde shipyard before taking to the stage.
  
• The Clyde tunnel took seven years to build. Work began in July 1957 and the first tunnel opened in July 1963. It is 21 feet below the river surface and approximately seven football pitches long.