Think of Scotland and you’ll probably think of landscapes. While its lochs, glens, and peaks are indeed impossibly gorgeous, Scotland’s true story lies in what its people have built.
Over the centuries, the Scots have constructed strange tombs in the islands of the north, guarded their territory with epic castles, imagined avant-garde public buildings, and raised eccentric mansions. Moreover, Scotland’s history through architecture isn’t just about the rich: alongside sumptuous aristocratic masterpieces, Glasgow tenements and Edinburgh alleys testify to the ordinary lives lived by Scots in the past.
Whether you want to spot bagpipe-playing pigs or explore a stately home, you can visit nine buildings that represent the story of Scotland in three dimensions.
Discover Stone Age Magic at Maeshowe
Before the pyramids and before Stonehenge, there was Maeshowe, a 4800-year-old tomb on Orkney’s Mainland. Its long passage – perfectly aligned with the sun on the winter solstice – leads into an eerie central chamber decorated with runic Viking graffiti (only a mere 900 years old). At the tomb and nearby sites such as Skara Brae and the Standing Stones of Stenness, the weight of the Stone Age past will fill you with awe while startling you with its immediacy. These structures were built by people who lived, laughed, and honored their dead – a legacy that continues to this day.
Count the Sheep at Melrose Abbey
The Pictish and Gaelic kingdoms became a united Scotland in the 9th century CE. By the 12th century, King David I was introducing knights, monks, and new laws as the country moved into a cutting-edge new era: the late Middle Ages. In 1136, the monks began building Melrose Abbey, which at its peak was an economic powerhouse, owning an impressive 15,000 sheep.
However, its wealth and location in the Borders made it vulnerable. It was sacked by the English, rebuilt by Robert the Bruce (whose heart may be buried here), sacked again, and ultimately shattered by Oliver Cromwell’s cannons in 1618. Consequently, the result is an evocative ruin, with much of the abbey’s grand main church remaining. Visitors can examine carvings of dragons and a bagpipe-playing pig, gaze at the fertile Tweed Valley and the surrounding hills through long-empty arched windows, and reflect on the influence once wielded by the community that occupied this great complex.
Lord It Over Scotland at Stirling Castle
We could have chosen Edinburgh’s hulking beauty of a castle or majestic Linlithgow Palace, but for its role in Scotland’s dynastic disputes and bloody wars with the English – not to mention its gorgeous palace interiors – Stirling Castle gets our vote. Its historical significance is summarized in the famous quote, “Hold Stirling and you control Scotland.” A fortress has occupied this site since at least the 12th century; in the 14th century, the Battle of Bannockburn was fought outside its walls, and the Stuart monarchs resided here in the 15th and 16th centuries. Today, visitors can explore rugged ramparts, colorful murals, and a vast tapestry showing a unicorn hunt – not to mention breathtaking views over Central Scotland.
Experience the 17th Century at Real Mary King’s Close
Edinburgh is a city of elegant buildings and buzzing festivals, home to writers, politicians, and merchants. However, Real Mary King’s Close tells a different story. This Old Town alleyway once accommodated families who threw waste out of doors and windows, unable to see the sky past the medieval structures.
During a tour of Real Mary King’s Close, which was buried when the city was redeveloped in the 18th century, visitors can begin to imagine the smells and other textures of life during that era. You’ll be guided through this now entirely subterranean street by lively guides, who will share tales of everyday life in the 17th century, including stories of plagues and ghostly happenings. This experience serves as a poignant reminder that beneath the epic headlines of Scottish history, millions of ordinary people lived and faced brutal conditions.
Visit Stunning Culzean Castle
By the late 18th century, Scotland was part of an industrializing Great Britain, and aristocrats shifted from fortification to decoration, creating grandiose stately homes like Culzean Castle, designed by Robert Adam in 1792. Set in manicured gardens on an Ayrshire cliff, its solid towers evoke the castles of yore, while its interior – featuring a sweeping oval staircase, opulent salons, and soaring colonnades – illustrates the extraordinary wealth of Scotland’s aristocracy.
Culzean (“kull-ane”) Castle demonstrates shifts in power: in 1945, the owners gifted the building to the National Trust for Scotland to avoid inheritance tax, with the top apartment designated for Dwight D. Eisenhower, recognizing his role in WWII. Their loss is our gain, as today you can explore the castle (children will particularly enjoy the large play area) and even experience a stay on the top floor, just like Eisenhower.
Climb the Scott Monument
The 1846 Scott Monument, rising 61m (200ft) over Princes Street Gardens in central Edinburgh, resembles a soot-blackened steampunk spaceship, which has divided opinion since its inception. Charles Dickens dismissed it as “the spire of a Gothic church taken off and stuck in the ground,” and the dust thrown up when its marble blocks were carved affected many of the city’s greatest stonemasons.
Today, visitors can climb its spiral staircases and platforms to enjoy views of Edinburgh’s breathtaking architecture, with the jumbled maze of the Old Town on one side and the airy Georgian New Town on the other. The site honors one of Scotland’s greatest storytellers, Sir Walter Scott, who romanticized the land’s past in popular 19th-century novels. His 1822 pageant for King George II further helped make tartan a recognizable symbol of Scottish culture.
Explore the Tenement House, a Cozy Glasgow Time Warp
If Real Mary King’s Close recounts Scottish city life in the 1600s, the cozy time warp of the Tenement House offers a view 300 years later. Glasgow’s rise is a definitive part of Scotland’s history – its population shot from around 80,000 in 1801 to ten times that a century later due to trade and industry.
A shorthand typist named Agnes Toward occupied this tenement flat (a small apartment block) from 1911 to 1965. Visitors can explore her home as it was, complete with gas lighting, a grandfather clock, a coal-fired cooking range, recipes, ornaments, and a 90-year-old jar of plum jam. This charming evocation of middle-class life complements grander Glasgow monuments like Kelvingrove and the inventive Riverside Museum.
Experience the Elegance of Art Nouveau at Hill House
In the early 20th century, art nouveau pioneer Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed some of Britain’s finest buildings. While his Mackintosh Building at Glasgow School of Art suffered damage from fire in the 2010s, the Hill House – a 1904 work of timeless elegance designed for a publishing magnate – has faced ongoing issues with water damage. Even as scaffolding from remediation covers its exterior, it remains an essential Scottish building.
Situated at the top of a hill in Helensburgh, approximately 20 miles (32km) northwest of Glasgow, Hill House resembles a castle or stately home filled with sinuous furniture and decorative flourishes, flooded with natural light. Thus, it exemplifies Mackintosh’s “Glasgow style” and offers an excellent opportunity to appreciate Scotland’s talent for design and fashion.
Set a Course for the Future at the Scottish Parliament
In 1998, Scotland established its first parliament in nearly 300 years, accompanied by a new building for its newly minted politicians six years later. Conceived as a “flower of democracy rooted in Scottish soil,” the Scottish Parliament Building incurred £40 million over budget, leading to some controversy. However, the dust has settled, and the building is now rightly celebrated.
Futuristic yet organic in design, its structures resemble leaves and branches, featuring a spacious debating chamber flooded with natural light and interconnected ponds and pathways that tie the building to the expansive Holyrood Park. Walking from the castle down Edinburgh’s Royal Mile past cobblestones and kirks (churches) to this symbol of modern democracy is a gloriously fitting experience. Whatever direction Scotland takes next – with strong enthusiasm for independence from the UK – unique buildings like this and stunning designs such as the V&A Dundee indicate a bright future.
