MORE visitors than ever before visited Charles Rennie Mackintosh attractions in Glasgow this year.
Mackintosh 150, a year-long programme of events about the artist and his works for the 150th anniversary of his birth, has seen increased footfall at venues across the city for a record-breaking 1.1 million visitors.
Venues including The Lighthouse, The Scotland Street School Museum, and House for an Art Lover, saw an 8% increase in footfall on last year and 30% on 2016.
A major Mackintosh exhibition at Kelvingrove Museum which attracted over 60,000 visitors, as well as completion of a four-year restoration project at the Willow Tea Rooms costing £10m.
David McDonald, chair of Glasgow Life and pictured, right, said: “The overwhelmingly positive response we’ve had to Mackintosh 150 over the past year, backed by a record number of visitors to Mackintosh venues and events in Glasgow and beyond, confirms the huge interest and affection there is for him both at home and globally.”
Mackintosh will also be promoted as Scotland’s national architect as part of the Mackintosh plan, managed by Glasgow Life. The artist will also play an important role in promoting the city as Glasgow aims to attract one million more overnight tourism visits in the next five years,
The success of the 150 programme has come despite the second fire in four years at the Glasgow School of Art’s Mackintosh building, which will cost around £100m to rebuild.
It also comes after National Trust for Scotland held one of the biggest fundraisers in their history to pay for a giant cage which will be placed over the artist’s crumbling Hill House in Helensburgh to protect it from the weather.
Stuart Robertson, director of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society, said: “The restoration of Mackintosh’s only surviving Tea Rooms on Sauchiehall Street has been another highlight and a wonderful achievement by the Willow Tea Rooms Trust, while work has begun to conserve and secure the future of The Hill House in Helensburgh, but the catastrophic fire in June that destroyed the Mackintosh Building at the Glasgow School of Art has been a devastating blow to the world of Mackintosh.
“That said, it is hugely encouraging that the past 12 months have seen record footfall among Mackintosh venues in Glasgow and the success of the Mackintosh 150 programme is the perfect platform on which to build our long-term partnership working and to take forward the ambitions of the city’s 10-year Mackintosh plan.
Jim Clarkson, VisitScotland’s regional leadership director, said: “Mackintosh designs have been everywhere this year, from a Vogue fashion shoot to the centrepiece of the Scottish Design Galleries at V&A Dundee. He is a national icon with a global influence that is a major asset in attracting visitors to Scotland, as shown by this range of successes.
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