Right in front of you is a massive, striking building made of deep red sandstone, with dramatic arches, tall Gothic towers at each corner, and rows of statues peering out from their niches-just look across Queen Street for the building that seems almost castle-like, as if it belongs in a fairy tale rather than the middle of Edinburgh!
Now, let’s set the scene: you’re standing before the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, a true temple of Scottish faces and stories. Let’s travel back to the late 1800s-Edinburgh’s skyline was taking shape, but this spot was about to get something very different from the usual Neoclassical blocks. Enter John Ritchie Findlay, a newspaper owner with a passion (and a checkbook!), and architect Robert Rowand Anderson. Their plan? A gallery that would be the first building in the world designed specifically for portraits-so before London’s, before Washington’s, before anywhere else, the Scots led the way in giving faces a home!
Anderson unleashed his inner romantic on this red fortress. He drew inspiration from the Gothic palaces of Venice and gave it more dramatic flair than a Scottish soap opera. Those four corner towers soaring above you? They were originally supposed to look more French, but the benefactor wanted a Scottish look-hence those spiky Gothic turrets! Walk closer and you’ll see rows of famous faces in stone, each tucked into a niche along the upper walls-these are Scotland’s own celebrities from centuries gone by, carved to liven up the outside of the gallery when painted portraits were hard to find.
The gallery itself opened in 1889, but the collection’s story started long before. Step inside (at least in your mind), and the main hall would welcome you with a processional mural by artist William Hole. Imagine a parade of Scottish heroes-saints, kings, poets-stretching from St. Ninian to Robert Burns, all painted in vivid color along the walls. Hole kept adding new figures through the years; maybe he just couldn’t resist Scottish drama!
For a long time, the Portrait Gallery had to share this building with the National Museum of Antiquities-let’s just say it was a tad crowded, with ancient relics on one side and stern-faced portraits on the other. In 2009, the artifacts moved out to a new home, and that’s when the gallery shut its doors for a major spruce-up. What did almost £18 million, heaps of dust, and three years behind closed doors get us? A dazzling refurbishment, new spaces for art lovers, and a sparkling lift for everyone-making those turrets almost jealous, I bet!
The collection inside is a real feast for the imagination. You’ll find ancient paintings from the Renaissance, epic scenes of Scottish royalty, and portraits of clergy, writers, and characters with so many wigs it could be a hairdresser’s dream. There’s a portrait of James IV of Scotland painted in 1507-the oldest in the bunch. Look out for Mary, Queen of Scots: the museum has two portraits of her, though, fun fact, neither was actually painted while she was alive! But her circle-her husbands, her nemeses-are there in paint and miniature.
Now, don’t miss the tartans-“Blazing with Crimson” was a special show, but the gallery always has tartan portraits. Lord Mungo Murray strutted his stuff in a painting from 1683 wearing a hunting plaid, years before tartan became a political firestorm and eventually a symbol of Scottish pride again.
But, lest you think it’s all lairds and lords, the gallery dives into ordinary Scottish life too. There are haunting photographs of Glasgow slums by Thomas Annan, and modern portraits of legends like Billy Connolly, Tilda Swinton, and Sir Alex Ferguson. You’ll even find a selfie or two-because what would a portrait collection be in the 21st century without one?
Fun tidbit: The collection contains over 3,000 paintings and sculptures, a staggering 25,000 drawings and prints, and some 38,000 photographs-so if you feel like the carved faces on the building are watching you as you stroll past, just imagine how many eyes are waiting inside!
So gaze up, take in those Gothic arches and stone legends, and let your mind wander through the dramas, triumphs, and tartans of Scottish history-all housed in this sandstone fortress. I’d say it’s worth a thousand words… but really, it’s more like a thousand faces!
