North
Riverside Esplanade, Dundee
V&A Dundee
On Dundee's waterfront, the V&A rises beside the River Tay, its striking concrete forms inspired by Scotland's coastal cliffs. It is a building that asks to be viewed from more than one angle.
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Compass Collection
Architecture, Places & Culture
Explore Scotland's built heritage through stone, civic vision, sacred spaces, vernacular tradition and bold contemporary design from medieval abbeys to waterfront museums.
Featured Places & Stories
12 selected places in this curated collection
North
Dunkeld, Perthshire
Dunkeld Cathedral
Beside the River Tay, Dunkeld Cathedral stands partly in ruins and partly in use. Its roofless medieval nave and working parish church sit side by side, each belonging to a different chapter of its history.
North
Perth, Perthshire
Scone Palace
Scone is inseparable from the story of Scottish kingship. Yet the palace standing here today belongs largely to the nineteenth century, long after the ceremonies that made the place famous.
East
South Queensferry, West Lothian
Hopetoun House
Hopetoun House is one of Scotland's grandest country houses, but it is not the work of a single architect. Two generations of design transformed the residence into the building we see today.
East
Culross, Fife
Culross Palace & Royal Burgh
Culross Palace has a rather grand name for a merchant's house. With its painted walls, crow-stepped gables and narrow streets, it belongs to a town that once prospered through trade, coal and salt.
East
Holyrood, Edinburgh
Scottish Parliament
At the foot of the Royal Mile, the Scottish Parliament looks unlike most government buildings. Its unusual shapes and materials sit between the Palace of Holyroodhouse and the rocky slopes of Salisbury Crags.
South
Melrose, Scottish Borders
When America Read Walter Scott
For a generation of North American readers, Walter Scott helped supply the picture of Scotland before they ever came here.
South
Roslin, Midlothian
Rosslyn Chapel
Rosslyn Chapel has attracted more than its share of legends. Yet its remarkable fifteenth-century architecture and richly carved stonework are fascinating without any of them.
South
Melrose, Scottish Borders
Melrose Abbey
Melrose Abbey is famous for its ruined church and elaborate stonework. But the surviving walls represent only part of what was once a large and influential medieval monastery.
West
Bellahouston Park, Glasgow
House for an Art Lover
Glasgow's House for an Art Lover began as a design on paper in 1901 and became a real building almost a century later.
West
Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow
Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow
Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art occupies a former merchant's mansion. Behind its grand classical frontage lies a history closely connected to Atlantic trade and the wealth created through slavery.
West
Alloway, South Ayrshire
Burns Cottage & Alloway
Burns Cottage is a modest building for such a famous birthplace. Built by the poet's father, it offers a glimpse of rural Ayrshire in which Robert Burns spent his earliest years.
Private Guiding in Scotland
Shaping a private day around what interests you
Ross can weave these stories and visits into an unhurried private journey designed around your party.