The Great Tapestry of Scotland

' A TAPESTRY which tells Scotland’s colourful story from pre-history to modern times has been unveiled at the Scottish Parliament.

Measuring 143 metres long (almost 500ft), the Great Tapestry of Scotland is one of the biggest in the world.

Its 160 beautifully detailed panels capture important moments during the country’s 420 million-year history.

The unique piece of art was devised by Scottish author Alexander McCall Smith along with historian Alistair Moffat and artist Andrew Crummy.

One thousand embroiderers aged four to 94 brought Scotland’s history to life.
The work took more than 50,000 hours to complete and will be exhibited in the Main Hall of the Scottish Parliament until 21 September. '


......so today C and I travelled through to Edinburgh! We arrived in time for lunch and visited the Swedish bistro near the Parliament Buildings, and had a lovely 'smogasbrod for two' plate...... we had cold ham, herring, trout, cheese, saurkraut (or something similar) salad leaves and great tasting bread, it was a real treat.

We then headed to the Parliament Building, to discover that there was a big queue waiting to get in to see the Tapestry. It took us half an hour to get to the front of the queue, where we had a very interesting conversation with the doorman before we were allowed in.

The tapestry blew our minds...... it is fantastic, has so many facets of the history of our country, the workmanship is awesome, and we just loved the whole experience. Half way around the exhibit we had to stop for coffee as our minds had just absorbed so much we needed a break! It took us three hours to view all the panels!!!!

I am sorry I can only show one panel, as there were so many I particularly liked, but I had to show this one depicting The Munro's, as I have climbed most of the ones mentioned.

Great respect has to go to the volunteer craftspeople who made this wonderful tapestry, and of course to the people whose idea it was. Have been told that it is going on tour after being exhibited in Parliament, and I do hope that it tours Scotland before going abroad, as I think there are many people who will appreciate it.

The weather today was just beautiful, both in Glasgow and in Edinburgh, which greatly added to our enjoyment..... we were able to eat lunch at a table out on the pavement.

See also the blip of Four Story which gives a close up of some of the work.