16 March 2012
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Book of the MonthReview of Rebirth of a Palace: The Royal Court at Stirling Castle, author John G. Harrison ...
REBIRTH OF A PALACE: THE ROYAL COURT AT STIRLING CASTLE
BY JOHN G HARRISON (Historic Scotland), ISBN 9781849170550, rrp £22.95
Historic Scotland’s £12 million refurbishment of the Royal Palace at Stirling Castle returned the royal apartments to their fifteenth century heyday, when the castle was a favoured residence of the Stuart dynasty. In Rebirth of a Palace, historian John G Harrison takes a detailed look at what the castle was like in the fifteenth century, and the challenges involved in returning the palace and its interior to their original splendour.
The story is presented through seven chapters which present the history through the topics of: the Scottish court, the Stirling Castle Palace Project, the architecture, furnishings, costume, the unicorn tapestries, and the Stirling Heads. Each chapter tells the history of the topic in question and is illustrated with photographs and sketches, with boxed sections expanding on particularly interesting features such as the craftspeople involved in the restoration, the creation of the historic costumes used in the re-enactments and the castle’s original builders.
