We enjoyed a very special day on Saturday (19 July), as we opened our new display of the whole Prestonpans Tapestry. As our visitors will be aware, we usually have 10m of the Tapestry exhibited in the gallery, and rotate the chosen sections sequentially over the course of the year. But to mark 15 years since the Tapestry’s completion – and as part of the 280th anniversary programme for the battle – we are showing all 105m of the Tapestry from now until 28 September.
Fitting the Tapestry into the gallery wasn’t easy – one of the reasons we hope one day to have a purpose-built facility for exhibiting it – but it is really wonderful to see the whole remarkable artwork in one place.
We celebrated the opening with music and song. Rena Gertz brought her beautiful Gaelic vocals to the gallery once more, and 11-year-old Charlotte Johnston played the fiddle for us (15 years after her mum Fiona had played at the Tapestry launch party!). Volunteers and stitchers were on hand to talk to visitors, and it was great to welcome both old friends and new into the museum. Visitors battled torrential rain, and the rumbling thunder outside the hall made us glad we weren’t exhibiting in a marquee as we had been forced to do in 2010!
Make sure you don’t miss the chance to see the Tapestry, open every weekend 11am-4pm.
