Building Scotland - Travelling Exhibition

As part of the recent Conference on Scotland’s Traditional Building Materials and the launch of the publication “Building Scotland”, the Conservation Group have produced an exhibition which will travel to different locations around Scotland over the next 2 years.The exhibition provides an introduction to the traditional building materials of Scotland. You can see actual examples of each material as well as a selection of the traditional tools that would be used to work and build with them.


This touring exhibition celebrates fourteen individual building materials. Many, such as stone and timber, have been used since earliest human habitation in Scotland. Others, such as pantiles and iron, came into general use in more recent times.

For the majority of our traditionally constructed buildings it is the use of these materials in combination with one another that has produced such beautiful and diverse results: stone, lime and pantiles come together to form distinctive buildings in our east coast towns and villages; timber, clay, stone and thatch are combined to form the blackhouses so distinctive of the Western Isles.

It is hoped that this exhibition, based on the “Building Scotland” book, will give an incite into the diverse materials which have literally been the building blocks of our traditional villages and cities throughout Scotland.


The exhibition, which started its journey in Edinburgh Castle last month, has now begun to tour the country.  Some of the venues and dates are listed below:-

• Stirling, Smith Art Gallery and Museum 5th April – 16th May
• Dundee, Wellgate Library 19th May – 8th June
• Stornoway, Museum nan Eilean 11th June – 14th July (TBC)
• Perthshire, Stanley Mills17th July – 19th August (TBC)
• Dumfries Museum and Camera Obscura 24th August – 10th October (TBC)
• Shetland Museum 15th October – 21st November (TBC)
• Glasgow, The Burrell Collection 24th November – 18th December (TBC)

Please note that dates could possibly change.  To find out more about the “Building Scotland” Travelling Exhibition, please call the Conservation Group, Outreach and Education Team on 0131 668 8917