St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art.

Busy day today, was planning to take in all the hotels in town that are listed on the Autism Awareness map as well as check out the Autism bus and St Mungo museum but ended up chatting (and drinking coffee) in Geek-Aboo whilst discussing Autism friendly shopping (you can thank me later) and then gabbing away to a nice lady from Autism Network Scotland which meant I only got to go to St Mungo in the end.

And how was it?

Well read on but first a quick info dump.

Named after Glasgow's patron saint (which surprisingly isn't Rab C Nesbit), the museum is built on the site of the medieval Bishops’ Castle with galleries of objects and art exploring the importance of religion in peoples’ lives across the world and throughout history.

But did it pass the patented Ash Autism test?

In the summertime when the weather is hotYou can stretch right up and touch the sky....Whoops, wrong Mungo. Sorry.

As with most museums there isn't really much you can do to 'Autism-friendly' an existing venue but luckily (which may be in part to the subject matter on show) St Mungo's has a lovely serene atmosphere plus the fact that it lies outwith the city centre gives it an air of being somewhat apart from everything else.

It's deceptively large and roomy with the exhibits nicely spaced and labeled plus there's a surprising amount of interactive exhibits too which is always a bonus, in fact the whole museum - given it's themes - has the perfect balance of respect for the various cultures and religions featured without being stuffy and alienating.

Which with Glasgow's various religious to-do's is quite amazing.

...And then Shiva came to life and I had a sword fight! - My favourite exhibit (well I am a Ray Harryhausen fan).

To be honest the only problem I had was with the signage so - as with The Lighthouse I took the lift straight to the top floor and worked my way down.

Sorted.

Staff wise everyone I spoke to (after enjoying a yummy caramel shortbread slice and a coffee in the cafe) was really enthusiastic about the whole Autism Aware campaign and seemed keen to learn more, coming across as genuinely excited about the prospect to making the venue more accessible and open to members of the Autistic community - which is brilliant to see.

As with Riverside and GoMA, St Mungo's has a downloadable visual guide to aid visitors which can be found here - clear and concise it does have the grumpy 'Don't touch' bit that GoMA has but hopefully they can take a leaf out of the Riverside's book (literally) and just do a little rewording to make it sound a wee bit less shouty.

"The art work is very fragile so please don't touch." See? sorted!

Again another museum that has taken to the Autism Aware challenge with gusto, well worth a visit - I'll be back soon with the podlings in tow.

Good stuff.

Next up the Autism bus and the George Square Autistic Marquee.

As in it's a marquee full of Autism-based info not that it's actually on the Spectrum.

That would be silly.

And a wee bit scary.

Disappointingly this van was not was not full of sweets. Or Lego.