The Great Tapestry of Scotland goes on show in Kirkcaldy

The Great Tapestry of Scotland goes on display in Kirkcaldy Galleries from tomorrow, 20 June 2015 until 20 September 2015. Don’t miss the chance to view the complete Tapestry – the longest stitched tapestry in the world. Consisting of 160 individual panels and now 143 metres long, the Tapestry tells the story of Scotland from the ice age to the present day.
One of the biggest community arts projects in the world, the idea for the Tapestry came from Scottish writer Alexander McCall Smith who fell in love with the art-form as a platform for storytelling. He worked with artist Andrew Crummy and historian Alistair Moffat for more than a year to create the outline artwork which was then translated for stitch by Dorie Wilkie. More than 1000 volunteers across Scotland then stitched the Tapestry by hand and it took more than 50,000 hours to complete.

Over the last eighteen months the tapestry has been seen by more than a quarter of a million people as it tours Scotland. Now it is the turn of the people of Fife. Over the last few weeks, historian Allan Burnett has been taking panels into local schools along with volunteer stitchers, bringing the history of Scotland to life in the classrooms and helping children to re-engage with an almost vanished artform.