It’s been a great experience to follow the work of some of the best painters around as they return the interiors of the castle’s royal palace to life. Just a couple of years ago the royal apartments had bare stone walls but now they look breathtaking. The redecoration process has been recorded on video by Historic Scotland photographer Mike Brooks. Mike has now produced a short film in which some of the French and Scottish artists involved in the project explain its challenges and pleasures.

The film gives an idea of just how important the project has been to the painters themselves. Michel Nadai says it’s been one of the peaks of his professional career – quite something from someone regarded as among the very finest decorative artists in France. The film offers a chance to get an idea of what the palace interiors will be like when they are opened to the public in June.

Among the most exciting things viewers can see are the new versions of the Stirling Heads, which have been used to recreate the once-fabulous ceiling of the King’s Inner Hall. The heads, metre-wide oak carvings of kings, emperors and heroes, are copies of surviving 16th-century originals and took five years to make. Last year we put them on display in their natural wood state. A team headed by Leith-based conservation and restoration expert Graciela Ainsworth has now finished painting them in rich colours, just like the originals would have been, and they look absolutely spectacular.

The film is called An Artistic Alliance and can be viewed at  www.youtube.com/historicscotlandtv. Have a look and let us know what you think.

Gillian Macdonald, Executive Manager