 |
| Queen Victoria |
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Today saw Edinburgh's Scottish National Portrait Gallery reopen following a two-and-a-half-year, £17.6m (US$27.4m) refurbishment. Conversion of office and storage areas sees 60% more space available for displays, and the world's first purpose-built portrait space is redefining what a portrait gallery should contain; amongst the displays are photographs of the Scottish landscape—portraits of the country itself.
 |
| Slezer's engraved view of Edinburgh Castle as-seen from the north-east. |
First opened in 1889, Sir Robert Rowand Anderson's red sandstone building was gifted to the nation by John Ritchie Findlay, then-owner of The Scotsman newspaper and, a well-known philanthropist. The original cost of construction between 1885 and 1890 is estimated at over 70,000 pounds sterling. Up until 1954, the building also housed the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland who moved to the National Museum of Scotland buildings on Chambers Street. The society's original meeting table now sits in the public part of the portrait gallery's library, stared down on by an array of busts andphrenological artefacts.
 |
| View from first floor into Grand Hall, with Burns' statue from the Calton Hill Monument. |
 |
| Image of the newly-installed glass elevator, significantly improving access to upper floors of the gallery |
No comments:
Post a Comment