RCAHMS launches Scottish Valentines photo gallery

The RCAHMS (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland) has launched an online gallery of photos with romantic connections, to celebrate Valentine's Day. The photos include images taken by the Canmore aerial photography team, who revealed for the first time after aerial photos were examined, that Inchamahome Island, famous for its associations with Mary Queen of Scots, is actually heart shaped.

RCAHMS maintains an active digitisation programme of its Collection items, copying photographs and historic views, photograph albums, original architects’ drawings, new survey drawings, engravings, sketches, books and maps. The Valentine's themed images include:

• A Victorian couple next to a Celtic cross at Knapdale
• A heart-shaped stained glass window at Queen's Cross Church, Glasgow
• A marriage lintel at the Stag Inn in Falkland
• A heraldic heart shield at St Machar's Cathedral, Chanonry
• A historic 'love' sign at Love's Auctioneers in Perth
• The Lover's Stone at Hirta, St Kilda

James Crawford, Communications Manager at RCAHMS, told The Scotsman newspaper: 'We have millions of photographs of buildings and landscapes and we wanted to select a range of images that reflected the romantic side of Scotland. What we’ve come up with are some places that reflect the romance of Scotland, but in a lighthearted and perhaps unusual way, as well as some historical images that will never have been seen publicly before.'

To view the Valentine's gallery, visit the RCAHMS website.

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