Stirling Heads Together for First Time in 200 Years

Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs Fiona Hyslop yesterday unveiled the new gallery at Stirling Castle that will display the original collection of Renaissance sculptures known as the Stirling Heads.

A total of 34 Heads, some a metre across, have survived the centuries since their creation sometime after 1530. Many originally decorated the ceiling of the King’s Inner Hall at the heart of the Royal Palace and there is nothing quite like them anywhere else in the world.

Historic Scotland has 31 of the Heads in its care, and three original Heads from the National Museums of Scotland have now joined them in the new gallery.

Bit of a tricky shoot this one. The gallery is very dark (much darker than it looks in the photograph) with no natural daylight to protect the heads. An exposure of 1/6 of a second was required to capture the ambient light with a spot flash picking out the minister.

First Minister visits Stirling's Royal Palace

First Minister Alex Salmond has revealed details of a weekend of celebrations to mark the opening of Stirling Castle’s Renaissance royal palace after a £12 million refurbishment.
He made the announcement during a visit to the palace where he saw the first of the original 16th-century Stirling Heads being prepared for display in a specially-created gallery on the upper floor.
The royal palace opens to the public on June 4th and 5th 2011.

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