Highland Renaissance

2007 is the year Scotland celebrates Highland culture with a special program

Culloden Battlefield

Highland 2007 is the name of a special programme for 2007 celebrating the Scottish Highlands. Thousands of events and activities will take place celebrating Highland culture in villages, towns and cities across the Highlands and beyond. Two major events should be noted.

Highland Culture at Inverness
The National Exhibition is a special collaboration between the National Museums of Scotland, National Galleries of Scotland and the National Library of Scotland. It focuses on the theme of Highland culture. The name of the exhibition is 'Fonn's Duthchas: Land and Legacy', which takes a look at the Highlands and Islands today using iconic objects from the collections

It then goes on to examine the history, myths, metaphors and reality which have shaped Highland life past and present, and which will shape it in the future, encompassing the landscape and the people. The exhibition will contain iconic items from the national collections alongside contemporary photography, film and artwork. Land issues, war, religion, clans and clearances, sport and leisure pursuits are topics that will be covered. Gaelic and the unique oral tradition - the music, poetry and songs which weave together language and landscape - will be special features, as will how the landscape sustains life, bringing in themes of sowing and harvesting, reclaiming and recycling.

The exhibition will open at Inverness Museum & Art Gallery in January 2007 and will tour to three major venues, including the National Museum of Scotland. There will be a smaller modular version which will tour a further six venues across the Highlands.

New visitor centre at Culloden Battlefield
East of Inverness lies Culloden Battlefield, an iconic and notorious site where the last pitched battle to be fought on British soil took place. On this battlefield the Scots finally gave in to the British supremacy. Even today, so many years after the army faced the Government troops, the events of that day remain deeply ingrained and significant in the consciousness of the Scottish people.

Acknowledging this, The National Trust for Scotland, is planning to redevelop the site to include an exciting and innovative new visitor centre and a reworking of the battlefield interpretation. Both undertakings will open to the public in 2007 and form an important part of the Highland 2007 programme of events.

The Culloden Battlefield Memorial Project will allow The NTS to present with dignity and impartiality the drama of the battle and the events that led to it and its aftermath. The new Culloden Visitor Centre is being positioned to minimise its impact on the battlefield and will replace the existing centre. The centre will be built using environmental design principles, for instance using locally sourced wood chips to fuel a Biomass boiler plant to provide the heating. The exhibition at the new centre is said to be presented in an engaging way and will take the visitor on a character-based journey through the story. The visitor will hear voices from the past, interact with living history, touch the past through artefacts and take an emotionally charged journey.

Find out more by logging on to: www.culloden.org.uk
Read more about the 300-year annivarsery 1707-2007