A free exhibition about Scottish history is coming to museums, galleries and sites of historic interest throughout the Forth Valley, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The Forth’s Timeline Exhibition Bus is a free mobile exhibition unravelling 2000 years of Scottish history. The bus will be at a range of the sites between 11am and 3pm.
Inside visitors will discover one of Scotland’s richest historical areas, the Forth Valley. The exhibition helps history and art come alive through real artefacts with real life stories. A new website for the project, www.forthstimeline.net, is available and an accompanying expert answers questions from budding historians.
Three themes help visitors explore the Forth Valley’s Timeline and the history of Scotland. These themes - ‘Landscape of Inspiration’, ‘Power Struggles’ and ‘Crucible of Industry’ - link the mobile exhibition to the rich variety of museums, galleries and places of interest in the Forth Valley.
These include the Antonine Wall, which recently received world heritage status, Callendar House, the Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum and Clackmannanshire Tower Trail. The bus will visit the following places during August and September:
- 28th August - New Lanark Visitor Centre
- 29th August - Dean Gallery, Edinburgh
- 30th August - The Mound (between the National Gallery of Scotland and the Royal Scottish Academy), Edinburgh
- 2nd September -Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow
- 4th September - Alloa Tower, Alloa
- 5th (TBC) September – Sterling Mills shopping Village, Tillicoultry
- 6th and 7th September - Bo’Ness and Kinneil Railway
- 9th September - Blair Drummond Safari Park, Stirling
- 10th to 14th September - Stirling Castle, Stirling
- Other dates TBC
Falkirk Council is leading the Forth’s Timeline campaign in partnership with Clackmannanshire Council and the Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum. Museums Galleries Scotland is supporting the project through the Regional Development Challenge Fund, funded by the Scottish Government. VisitScotland is also involved in the campaign.
Joanne Orr, CEO of Museums Galleries Scotland, said: “Attractions throughout the Forth Valley have links to some of the most important events and periods in Scottish history. By supporting this project through the Regional Development Challenge Fund we are able to raise the profile of smaller exhibitions as well as promote a richer experience for visitors.”
Councillor Adrian Mahoney, Falkirk Council's Convener of the Environment and Heritage Committee, said: "The Forth Valley area has some great museums and historic buildings - telling fantastic stories going back thousands of years. I'm delighted this new campaign has been launched. Hopefully the Forth's Timeline project will make people more aware of the amazing heritage we have in this area and encourage lots more people to pay us a visit."
Dr. Elspeth King, Director of the Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum, said, “We sometimes forget that the River Forth is one of the great, historic waterways of the world, celebrated by poets and song writers from the time of the early Christian saints, to that of the ship builders of the twentieth century and beyond. Forth's Timeline will lead visitors into the rich, yet unexplored highways, byways and meanders of Scottish history, culture and landscape. Museums and kindred organisations are working together to ensure that the visitor experience will be special.”
Susan Mills, Museum and Heritage Officer for Clackmannanshire Council, said "The Forth's Timeline is an exciting and innovative project which will help to make people both in this area and beyond more aware and appreciative of its rich heritage, the wealth of its museums and their varied collections and the inspiring landscape which has been at the heart of the great events of Scotland's history."
For more information about the project or where the touring bus will visit next see www.forthstimeline.net.
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Photography of the bus, museum, galleries, places of historical interest and Forth’s Timeline project shots and logos are available.
For more information on Forth’s Timeline please contact Joe Walton at Matthews Marketing, P: 0141 419 9000, E: joe@mmarketing.org.uk.
For more information on Museums Galleries Scotland and the Regional Development Challenge Fund please contact Sarah Burry-Hayes or Eithne Ní Chonghaile P:0131 550 4100 E:eithnenc@museumsgalleriesscotland.com
For more information on tourism in the Forth Valley please contact James Lakie, Regional Corporate Press Officer, VisitScotland. P: 0131 472 2410 E: James.lakie@visitscotland.com
Notes to editors
The Regional Development Challenge Fund is funded by the Scottish Government and administered by Museums Galleries Scotland. The Fund aims to encourage the development of partnerships at regional level across local authorities and between museums of all types and other related agencies.
The full list of visitor attractions are The Regimental Museum of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum, Kilmadock Information & Heritage Centre, Clackmannanshire Tower Trail, Clackmannan Tower, Menstrie Castle, Sauchie Tower, Alloa Tower, Castle Campbell and Garden, Dollar Museum, Tullibody Heritage Centre, Callendar House, Kinneil Museum, Grangemouth Museum, The Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway, Birkhill Fireclay Mine and the University of Stirling Art Collection.
