The Great Tapestry of Scotland

This is very much an exclusive for Culture Hack Scotland. The Great Tapestry of Scotland is at the very start of a long and public journey: we’ve got access to the titles and descriptions of each of the panels, plus associated images / designs. It’s very much a work in progress, the dataset isn’t even complete yet. But there’s plenty in there to start playing with in the knowledge that this is only going to grow and grow.

Download a slice of the panel listings here (csv).

What is the Great Tapestry of Scotland?

The Great Tapestry of Scotland is a unique project to stitch the entire story of Scotland from pre-history to modern times.

It is the brainchild of one of Scotland’s best-known writers, Alexander McCall Smith. McCall Smith, together with historian Alistair Moffat, and the artistic talents of Andrew Crummy, form a team with Scottish stitchers who will produce the world’s longest tapestry through one of the biggest community arts projects ever to take place in Scotland. The creation of the tapestry is a unique opportunity to tell our nation’s history and to involve as many people as possible in the telling. The aim is to create a series of over one hundred and twenty panels that tell the key stories in Scottish history- everything from Duns Scotus to Dolly the sheep.

The numbers behind the Great Tapestry of Scotland:

50,000 sewing hours (= sewing 24 hours a day for 6 years)
49,000 meters of yarns (enough to lay up & down Ben Nevis x 37)
12,012 years of Scottish history
Over 200 stitchers
Over 120 panels
1 beautiful tapestry depicting the entire history of Scotland

The project will take over a year to complete and the finished tapestry will go on display from August 2013. Plans are underway to publish a book to accompany the finished tapestry.

What are they interested in?

We’re in the early stages of making this project a reality. And we want to know what we can do with our content and our process. How does digital lend itself to a community project like this? How do we talk to people, both participants and audiences?

http://www.scotlandstapestry.com/