Sculpture Details.

Scotland’s World Heritage Sites span millennia—etched in stone, cast in iron, and rooted deep in the land.

On #WorldHeritageDay, we honour the places that carry history forward.

🏛️ Scotland’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites:

St Kilda — A remote archipelago in the Outer Hebrides, notable for its dramatic landscapes, seabird colonies, and 4,000 years of human history. It holds dual status for both natural and cultural heritage.

Old and New Towns of Edinburgh — A unique urban landscape where medieval alleyways meet Georgian elegance, showcasing centuries of architectural and civic development.

Heart of Neolithic Orkney — A collection of prehistoric monuments, including Skara Brae, Maeshowe, the Stones of Stenness, and the Ring of Brodgar, offering insight into Neolithic life.

New Lanark — An 18th-century mill village on the River Clyde, renowned for its role in social reform and industrial innovation under Robert Owen.

The Antonine Wall — The northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire in Britain, representing Roman military engineering and imperial ambition.

The Forth Bridge — A 19th-century cantilever railway bridge spanning the Firth of Forth, celebrated as a masterpiece of engineering and design.

The Flow Country — Designated in 2024, this vast peatland in Caithness and Sutherland is the world’s largest blanket bog, recognised for its ecological importance and role in carbon storage.

May 14th 1754 saw the rules of golf formalised at St Andrews with the foundation of the Society of St Andrews Golfers.

Twenty-two ‘Noblemen and Gentlemen’ contributed to a silver club to be played for annually over the Links of St Andrews. The first winner was Baillie William Landale, a St Andrews’ merchant, who became Captain for the year.

The competition was initially open to all golfers, as had been that of the Leith golfers ten years previously. The Leith golfers were specifically invited and brought their rules with them, which the St Andrews’ golfers used, with a small change to Rule 5. Thus began the foremost club in both Scottish golf history and world golf in general.

The first picture shows the hand-written rules of golf, which appear on the first page of the very first minute book of the Society of St Andrews Golfers. You can see that rule five was maybe amended after the initial rules were written down. The second pic is of James and Alexander Macdonald the sons of Sir Alexander Macdonald of Macdonald, a great Highland chieftain with estates on the Isle of Skye, although the pic is from 1749, before date “celebrated” today, I think it interesting as it shows one of the boys wit a golf club, showing that golf was already a well-established pastime in Scotland by this time.

The society later became known as the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St.Andrews.

I’d like to add about the lat pic of the Macdonald brothers, if you see the one on the right, Alexander, is wearing a kilt, many people would have you believe it it was a Victorian invention, the date of this painting clearly shows that is not the case.

The Stained Glass of Sainte-Chapelle

Interior of the upper chapel (looking northeast), Sainte-Chapelle, Paris, France, 1243–1248

This chapel is a masterpiece of the so-called Rayonnant (radiant) style of the High Gothic age, which dominated the second half of the century. It was the preferred style of the royal Parisian court of Saint Louis. Sainte-Chapelle’s architect carried the dissolution of walls and the reduction of the bulk of the supports to the point that some 6,450 square feet of stained glass make up more than than three-quarters of the structure. The emphasis is on the extreme slenderness of the architectural forms and on linearity in general. Although the chapel required restoration in the 19th century (after suffering damage during the French Revolution), it retains most of its original 13th-century stained glass. Approximately 49 feet high and 15 feet wide, they were the largest designed up to their time. (source)

By the Deathbed (1893) by Edvard Munch

by ursu.1971

Isaac Levitan - "In the Vicinity of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery"

Reading under the trees...

The Holy Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of San Salvador

Foundation 8th century

Construction 13th - 17th century

Bibury, Cotswolds (England).