10 December 2009

Media Releases

This Saturday, why not escape the Christmas shopping crowds and learn how to make your own personalised festive gifts and decorations at the historic Stanley Mills complex on the banks of the River Tay. At the special Christmas Crafts drop-in event from noon till 3pm on 12th December, Ranger Iain Lewis will be showing visitors how to gather natural materials from the local environment - such as branches, mosses, sprigs of holly, and pine cones collected from the woods - to make a variety of decorations, table centres and festive wreaths.

8 December 2009

Media Releases

Fiona Hyslop, Minister for Culture and External Affairs, has hailed the success of the Historic Scotland St Andrew’s Free Weekend which attracted 11% more visitors than in 2008. More than 39,700 visitors enjoyed trips to the 47 heritage attractions which waived their ticket prices on 28 and 29 November.

4 December 2009

Media Releases

Fiona Hyslop, Minister for Culture and External Affairs, has announced the award of specialist contracts for the Stirling Castle Palace Project. The work is part of a £12 million scheme which will see the royal palace of James V returned to how it may have looked in its mid-16th century heyday. The contracts involve everything from furniture and fabrics through to joinery, metalwork and stained glass.

4 December 2009

Media Releases

What would a Renaissance Scottish king want staring down from the ceiling of his bedchamber? Probably lions and unicorns – and plenty of them. Part of the £12 million project to return the royal palace at Stirling Castle to how it may have looked in the mid-16th century involves creating new ceilings for the bed chambers built for King James V and his French queen, Mary of Guise.

4 December 2009

Media Releases

A Renaissance king would expect the ceiling of his bedchamber to be truly magnificent. James V would have been no exception, and the palace he had built in Stirling Castle was rich with elegant stone statues and other fine craftsmanship. The Historic Scotland team recreating the palace interiors has commissioned a master craftsman to create a 1.5m tall oak carving of the royal coats of arms as the centrepiece of his bedchamber ceiling. It will be surrounded by other carvings showing the heraldry of the four great orders of chivalry to which the king belonged.