Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, March 2008 Newsletter

Centenary Exhibitions: Faces and Places

RCAHMS has joined forces with the Scottish National Portrait Gallery to present Faces and Places. The exhibition will highlight the collections from both institutions and will be held at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery from April to July 2008.

Faces and Places will look at some of the key people who have contributed to Scotland's built heritage. Around twenty individuals will appear in the gallery exhibition; from archaeologists and antiquarians who have studied and recorded Scotland's past; to architects, engineers, and industrialists who have helped construct the built environment we see today. Less well-known characters such as Erskine Beveridge (a textile manufacturer turned archaeologist and amateur photographer) and Lady Sophia Dunbar (a skilled archaeological illustrator) will feature alongside more prominent figures like Sir Basil Spence, Robert Adam and the Stevenson family. These notable men (and woman!) who have helped shape our heritage will be displayed alongside their work through a range of collection material including paintings, sculpture, drawings, photographs, notebooks and instruments.

In addition to the exhibition and as part of our centenary, Lesley Ferguson, Head of Collections at RCAHMS will present a talk at the Hawthornden Lecture Theatre in the National Gallery Complex. Through some of the individuals featured in Faces and Places, Lesley will provide an insight into the wealth and range of the collections at RCAHMS collated in our first one hundred years. Please see newsletter 'Dates for your Diary' section for information if you would like to attend.

Faces and Places
24 April - 20 July 2008
Scottish National Portrait Gallery
(Gallery 6), 1 Queen Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1JD.
Admission free.

Watercolour of Easter Aquhorthies stone circle by Lady Sophia Dunbar, 1870. SC337167

Our first secretary Alexander Ormiston Curle features in the Faces and Places exhibition. SC371006

Engraving illustrates a plan of the Clachnaharry Sea Lock at the Inverness end of the Caledonian Canal, designed by the famous engineer Thomas Telford (1757-1834). DP015172