The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) today puts its extraordinary collection of archive images to a public vote, to celebrate its centenary in 2008.

The Heritage Lottery today announced £554,000 funding for Treasured Places. This exciting project asks the public to choose ‘Scotland’s favourite archive image’ from a selection of 100 from the RCAHMS collection. These will then form the basis of two major exhibitions in 2008, the RCAHMS centenary year, and will also be the inspiration for a series of community workshops around the country.

Images range from our most famous landmarks (the Forth Rail Bridge, Wallace Monument, the Falkirk Wheel) to our most celebrated buildings (Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow School of Art, Balmoral Castle, King’s College in Aberdeen), and sacred and ancient sites (Iona Abbey, stone brochs in Glenelg and Orkney, Rosslyn Chapel). But they also include places that represent the everyday history of our nation such as hospitals, swimming baths, shopping centres, ice rinks, tenement flats, football clubs, lighthouses, collieries and croft houses. Treasured Places is designed to encourage debate about the value of our ‘places and spaces’ and understanding ourselves as a nation – where we’ve come from and where we are now.

The longlist of 100 includes stunning aerial photographs, intricate RCAHMS survey drawings, fascinating original architect’s drawings and plans, and rare historical photographs. Each picture tells not just one but a myriad of stories, and the project invites everyone to share their stories about these places and spaces online. Voting will take place on the specially created website www.treasuredplaces.org.uk  and by post to RCAHMS.

A shortlist of ten will be announced in October, and these are guaranteed a place in the exhibitions next year. The image with the most votes, ‘Scotland’s favourite archive image’, will be announced in December, and will be the subject of a specially-commissioned poem. Two Treasured Places exhibitions will be mounted in 2008, one at Edinburgh’s City Art Centre and one that will tour ten venues across Scotland. Workshops with groups such as brownies and scouts, war veterans, religious groups and local communities, will take place from September 2007 right through to March 2008.

Siobhan McConnachie, project manager for Treasured Places, said:

“The images in the 100 selection show the great variety of places that are treasured by people for many different reasons. Some are places you might expect, but others are not, and that adds to the interest of what can make a place treasured. The archive images chosen often show the places in a new way demonstrating the unique work of RCAHMS – engravings, historic photographs, survey drawings and aerial photographs all add something new to our knowledge of a place that we might consider familiar. It will be fascinating to see which image people vote as their favourite.”

Commenting on the grant award, the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Manager for Scotland, Colin McLean, said:

"To date RCAHMS’s unique archive is really mainly used by academics and professionals. This innovative project will open it up to a huge audience and that’s why the Heritage Lottery Fund is delighted to be involved.

Our built heritage plays a huge part in telling the history of Scotland. It gives us our roots and helps us understand where we are today. I think it will be fascinating to find out our top ten treasured places.”