If you are going to be here on the Saturday or Sunday prior to the conference (and are not involved in a Working Group or the Doctoral Consortium), you may want to wander around the City for an hour or two. Here are three different walks which take you around different parts of Aberdeen.
7th July 2019
Nuart Aberdeen is the only street art festival in Scotland and one of the UK’s leading festivals of its kind.
Artists from around the globe transform the walls and buildings of Aberdeen city centre with works of art that are free for all to enjoy 365 days a year.
Launched in 2017 this multi-award winning festival provides a platform for local, national and international artists to showcase their work and produce both large and small scale murals, sculptures and interventions with the support of local artists that resonate with the city, its surroundings and its history.
Originating in Norway in 2001, the team behind the annual Stavanger Nuart Festival worked in collaboration with Aberdeen Inspired and Aberdeen City Council to bring the public art event to Aberdeen.
Since its launch Nuart Aberdeen has brought tens of thousands of people into the city all year round to enjoy the works of art for free. It has been truly transformational for Aberdeen and the city centre is a perfect stage for this now annual festival which has genuinely revolutionised the city centre.
Take the Nuart tour for yourself and explore Aberdeen City Centre.
VisitAberdeenshire
“Established in 2017, Nuart Aberdeen is an international public art festival created to present the most interesting and relevant Street Art of its time. It intends to activate, inspire and collaborate with an emergent local scene as well as encourage creative links and exchanges between local businesses, arts organisations, property owners, community centres, education institutions and members of the public across all ages and backgrounds.
Nuart Website
Nuart is dedicated to promoting art as part of people’s everyday lives, to bringing art and artists out of studios, basements and institutions and on to the city streets. We aim to stimulate debate by challenging entrenched notions of what public art is, what it can be and who it is for.
The festival provides public platforms for national and international artists to showcase their work through a series of carefully curated site-specific murals, installations, urban interventions and temporary exhibitions. The artists who attend the festival are among the most acclaimed and progressive street and urban art practitioners in the world.
The production of the public artworks is supplemented by Nuart Plus, an international program of academic talks, artist presentations, film screenings, walking tours, public workshops and fringe events that take place across multiple sites during the opening weekend.”
Housed in part of the former Roman Catholic national junior seminary 7 miles southwest of Aberdeen, Blairs Museum offers a unique insight into Scotland’s Catholic history and heritage with spectacular collections spanning more than 500 years.
“For 157 years, Blairs College was home to a magnificent collection of paintings, church textiles, sacred silver and Jacobite memorabilia belonging to the Scottish Roman Catholic Church.
From its establishment Blairs College was recognised as a safe place to receive and preserve artefacts relating to Scotland’s Catholic heritage. Over the years Blairs accumulated an internationally renowned collection of fine and decorative art from a number of benefactors, including bishops, priests and friends of Blairs as well as inheriting important collections from the former Scots Colleges throughout Europe. When the College closed in 1986, an independent trust was created, overseen by the Scottish Catholic Heritage Commission, to preserve, interpret and display this important collection of religious heritage.
Today, Blairs Museum gives visitors a unique insight into Scotland’s Catholic heritage, providing an enjoyable, memorable, and inspiring experience for all.”
VisitAberdeenshire
The Museum of Scottish Lighthouses is based in the bustling fishing port of Fraserburgh on the North East corner of Aberdeenshire. It’s all here; Kinnaird Head Lighthouse – the very first lighthouse on mainland Scotland (1787), Kinnaird Head Castle containing the lighthouse and the purpose-built museum alongside.
Museum of Scottish Lighthouses
The museum tells the great story of the Northern Lighthouse Board, the engineers who built the lights and the keepers who tended them.
It is a story of skill, courage, technical genius and brilliant organisation.
The Kinnaird Head Lighthouse and Museum at Historic Environment Scotland
“The Tolbooth Museum is one of Aberdeen’s oldest buildings and one of the best-preserved 17th century gaols in Scotland. It features displays on local history and the development of crime and punishment through the centuries. The Tolbooth Museum provides a unique experience in the form of its atmospheric 17th and 18th century cells, original doors and barred windows. Displays include the Maiden and the blade of Aberdeen’s 17th century guillotine.”
Tolbooth Museum website
The Gordon Highlanders Museum is based in Aberdeen, Scotland and celebrates the story of the Gordon Highlanders Regiment which was active from 1794 to 1994. It is a 5 star Scottish Tourist Board attraction
“The Gordon Highlanders Museum is a ‘5-star Visit Scotland’ Tourist Attraction based in the west end of Aberdeen. It is committed to preserving and sharing the legacy of the world-famous Gordon Highlanders Regiment for future generations to enjoy, providing a wide range of unique experiences for all visitors, young and old.
VisitAberdeenshire
2019 saw the opening of a fantastic new WW1 replica Trench exhibition which gives visitors the opportunity to wander through and explore what it might have been like for the soldiers serving in the trenches of World War 1.
Within the Museum they operate a Tea room, gift shop and have excellent conference and hospitality facilities as well as being able to offer beautiful memorial gardens to their visitors. The building is a grade 2 listed building and was the former home of Sir George Reid the eminent North East Artist and President of the Royal Scottish Academy of Art.
The Museum is an independent, self-financed museum, governed by a charitable trust.”
The following article is an excellent guide to the the sights and tourist experiences of Aberdeen, and is useful for first time visitors (and returners). The Scotland Traveloholic website, which has many great articles, can be found here.
“Scotland is undoubtedly a country full of beautiful cities, interesting architecture, stunning nature and fantastic people. Each of Scotland’s cities has something beautiful, and I believe that it’s worth writing about them and getting the wider public familiar with these wonderful places. After my recent visit to Aberdeen, I decided to finally make a comprehensive guide to Aberdeen to inspire others to discover it’s unique beauty and charm.”
Please read more of this useful and informative guide to visiting Aberdeen by clicking on this link
Founder of Scotland Traveloholic, travel photographer and videographer. A head full of dreams and ideas ? Part of spreadit.studio – Travel Content Marketing & Digital Strategy Agency In Scotland.
