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23 May 2012
No two days are ever the same here at Stirling Castle, and as you arrive for work each morning you never quite know what the day is going to bring...
Stirling Heads Gallery
See the Stirling Heads close up and discover the meaning behind each Head.
The Royal Palace
| Please note: Access to areas of the Royal Palace may be restricted whilst a lift is installed with in the West Gallery. This lift will allow access for all to the upper levels of the Palace including the Heads Gallery and will take approximately 7 weeks to be completed. We will do our upmost to ensure as few restrictions as possible during the works. Apologies for any inconvenience caused. |
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The Palace at Stirling Castle allows visitors to step into the astonishing richness of royal life in the 1500s.
James V’s Palace at Stirling is one of the finest and best-preserved Renaissance buildings in Great Britain. Following a major programme of research and re-presentation, it can now be seen by visitors much as it may have looked on completion around 1545.
The decoration of the Palace’s six main rooms is overwhelmingly colourful, rich and elaborate. James and his French wife Mary of Guise aimed to present themselves as wealthy, learned and sophisticated.
The decoration of the Palace’s six main rooms is overwhelmingly colourful, rich and elaborate. James and his French wife Mary of Guise aimed to present themselves as wealthy, learned and sophisticated.
The decorative style belongs to the Renaissance – a great flowering in arts, literature and philosophy that revolutionised Europe in the 1400s and 1500s. Bright colours, expensive fabics and ornate patterns were essential elements.
But this was not flamboyance for its own sake. The decorative scheme was filled with messages about power, prosperity and plenty. It was not limited to the interior chambers but also extended to the exterior walls, embellished with hundreds of statues and other stone-carvings.
Read more on the royal palace
But this was not flamboyance for its own sake. The decorative scheme was filled with messages about power, prosperity and plenty. It was not limited to the interior chambers but also extended to the exterior walls, embellished with hundreds of statues and other stone-carvings.
Read more on the royal palace
