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A bronze equestrian statue has a traffic cone balanced on its head, classical stone pillars of a gallery building rising behind.
Glasgow

The Duke of Wellington

Marochetti's bronze of 1844 outside the Gallery of Modern Art, crowned since the 1980s with Glasgow's traffic cone.

Welcome

In front of the Gallery of Modern Art on Royal Exchange Square, the Duke of Wellington sits his horse on a tall granite pedestal, bronze, unveiled in 1844 and the work of the Italian-born sculptor Baron Carlo Marochetti.

It is a serious statue: the pedestal is Peterhead granite, and bronze reliefs round it tell the story of the Duke's life and battles.

Glasgow has other ideas. Since the 1980s someone has kept a traffic cone on the Duke's head, and often one on the horse's too, and however many times they have been lifted down they come back by morning. When a plan was made in 2013 to raise the plinth out of reach, the city answered with a petition of thousands of names to keep the cone, and it stayed. It has become one of the best-known sights in Glasgow, and a photograph of the Duke in his orange hat is almost a rite of passage.

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The Daily for 14 November, from Scotland with love. A red kayak beached on a loch shore beneath sunlit rocky hills, Sutherland
Round the cornerPanangSharing plates from across Asia and handcrafted cocktails on St Vincent Street, under a ceiling of hundreds of silk lanterns.1 min by roadSee itPanang

Before you go

The statue stands in Royal Exchange Square, in front of the Gallery of Modern Art, and can be seen at any hour.

Where
Royal Exchange Square, off Queen Street.
Next door
The Gallery of Modern Art, free.

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Where it is

Royal Exchange Square in the centre of Glasgow, in front of the Gallery of Modern Art.

Close byA few steps away.
  1. A full breakfast with black pudding and fried eggs.The Anchor LineA first-class restaurant and bar on St Vincent Place, themed on the golden age of ocean travel, with oysters, grills and cocktails.Under a mile 1 min by road
  2. The loft-style dining room with a long bar, brick walls and iron columns.The Spanish ButcherUnder a mile 1 min by road
  3. Gallery of Modern ArtGallery of Modern ArtThe city's free gallery of contemporary art, right behind him.Under a mile 1 min by road
  4. Buchanan Street looking downhill, shoppers on the paving between sandstone blocks under a blue sky.Buchanan StreetGlasgow's main shopping street, a minute west.Under a mile 1 min by road
  5. Ornate lamp posts glow on a wet, foggy city street at nightGeorge SquareThe civic square of 1781, a minute east.Under a mile 1 min by road
  6. A long straight Merchant City street of sandstone buildings under a pale pink sky.Merchant CityThe tobacco merchants' streets to the east.Under a mile 2 min by road
Directions
Sea bream with charred corn and tomatillo salsa, pork belly and prawns with chickpeas on Sebb's red-rimmed plates.RestaurantsSebb'sA step away
Red leather booths, globe lamps and timber walls in the dining room at Margo.RestaurantsMargoA step away
Clusters of glass globe lights over the room by the windows.RestaurantsThe SpiritualistA step away
Panang's dark front with lanterns in the windows.RestaurantsPanang0.2 miles
The busy dining room with its gallery above and lamps glowing.RestaurantsChaakoo Bombay Cafe0.2 miles
Cakes and a red teapot at a window table in Laboratorio Espresso, with the sandstone buildings of West Nile Street beyond.CafeLaboratorio Espresso0.2 miles
Wooden shelves of whisky and spirits running the length of the Good Spirits Co. on Bath Street, with a barrel of bottles in the front.ShoppingThe Good Spirits Co.0.3 miles
Inside Rubadub on Howard Street: racks of records in the middle of the floor, synths and drum machines on the shelves, and a spiral stair up to the gallery.ShoppingRubadub0.3 miles
The City Chambers at dusk, lit along its stone front, the tower above the pediment and the Cenotaph in the foreground.AttractionsGeorge Square & City Chambers0.3 miles

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Stay nearby

Places to stay near the Duke, and when each is next free.

A grey sofa with cushions sits before a black and white kitchen, a framed print on the wall to the left.Moment Blythswood Street
  • Sleeps 4
  • In Glasgow
  • Under a mile from the Duke
Check datesA grey corner sofa with cushions and a sheepskin throw sits before a shelf of books and a round mirror, a wood burning stove and log store to the right.Talli House
  • Sleeps 4
  • In Dunlop
  • 12 miles from the Duke
Free 11–13 JanPlaces to stayEvery stay in GlasgowAll our places to stay nearby, to search by date and by who is coming.See them all
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