As part of the project to re-represent Stirling Palace, Historic Scotland has commissioned a set of seven hand-made tapestries. Four of them now hang in the Queen’s Inner Hall; the remaining three will be completed and hung by 2013.

The designs are closely based on a set of Renaissance tapestries held at the Cloisters Museum in New York. These were woven in the Low Countries around 1500. At that time, tapestries were very fashionable and extremely expensive.

The project to produce replica tapestries has been part-funded by the Quinque Foundation of the United States.

Taken together, the seven tapestries tell the story of a unicorn hunted and killed by a group of huntsmen and dogs. This can be read as both as an allegory of love, and as a Christian parable.

The unicorn was an important mythical beast from Roman times and perhaps earlier. It was believed to be both powerful and pure, and could only be tamed by a maiden.

In the late-medieval period, the unicorn was adopted as the supporter of the Scottish royal coat of arms. We know that James V owned two sets of tapestries featuring a unicorn.

Traditional techniques and materials are being used to create the new tapestries, though durable mercerised cotton has been substituted for silk.

The tapestry project is being managed by West Deans College in West Sussex. The weavers are working in two teams: one based at West Deans; the other in a purpose-built studio in the Nether Bailey of Stirling Castle.


Read the Stirling Tapestry highlights and watch the weavers at work