Portal:Scotland/Selected pictures

Eilean Glas Lighthouse, built by engineer Thomas Smith, was one of the original four lights to be commissioned by the Commissioners of the Northern Lights and the first in the Hebrides (the others were Kinnaird Head, Mull of Kintyre and North Ronaldsay).

Photo credit: Richard Baker

The tied island of St Ninian's Isle is joined to the Shetland Mainland by the largest tombolo in the UK.

Photo credit: ThoWi

The Old Man of Storr is a rock pinnacle, the remains of an ancient volcanic plug. It is part of The Storr, a rocky hill overlooking the Sound of Raasay on the Trotternish peninsula of the Isle of Skye.

Photo credit: Wojsy

Crail is a former royal burgh in the East Neuk of Fife. Built around a harbour, it has a particular wealth of vernacular buildings from the 17th to early 19th centuries, many restored by the National Trust for Scotland, and is a favourite subject for artists.

Photo credit: S.moeller

Greyfriars Bobby was a Skye Terrier who became known in 19th-century, Scotland, after reportedly spending fourteen years guarding his owner's grave, until his own death on 14 January 1872. A year after the dog died, the philanthropist Baroness Burdett Coutts, had a statue and fountain erected to commemorate him.

Photo credit: MykReeve

Crofters cottage and sheep, Cairngorms National Park.

Photo credit: Thomas_Andy_Branson

The Scottish Parliament Building (Scottish Gaelic: Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, Scots: Scots Pairlament Biggin) is the home of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, within the UNESCO World Heritage Site in central Edinburgh. It was designed by Enric Miralles, the Catalan architect,.and has won a number of awards, including an award at the VIII Biennial of Spanish Architecture, the RIAS Andrew Doolan Award for Architecture, and the 2005 Stirling Prize, the UK's most prestigious architecture award.

Photo credit: Photo Credit: Wangi

Oban (Scottish Gaelic: An t-Òban) (meaning "The Little Bay") is a resort town within the council area of Argyll and Bute. Oban Bay is a near perfect horseshoe bay, protected by the island of Kerrera, and beyond Kerrera is Mull. To the north is the long low island of Lismore, and the mountains of Morvern and Ardgour.

Photo credit: Josi

The Black Cuillin, a range of rocky mountains located on the Isle of Skye, viewed from Sgùrr na Strì.

Photo credit: User:YaoAxton

Loch Tummel (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Teimhil) is a long, narrow loch, 7 kilometres north west of Pitlochry in Perth and Kinross. A well known view over the loch and the surrounding countryside (with Schiehallion in the background) is the 'Queen's View' from the north shore, which Queen Victoria made famous in 1866.

Photo credit: Paul Hermans

The Scott Monument is a Victorian Gothic monument to Scottish author Sir Walter Scott (not to be confused with the National Monument). It stands in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh.

Photo credit: Schatir

Arbroath or Aberbrothock (Scottish Gaelic: Obair Bhrothaig) is a former royal burgh on the North Sea coast, around 16 miles (25.7 km) ENE of Dundee and 45 miles (72.4 km) SSW of Aberdeen. It is the largest town in the council area of Angus. and has a population of 22,785.

Photo credit: Karen Vernon

The Quiraing is a landform on the on the Isle of Skye.

Photo credit: Snowmanstudios

The National Museum of Scotland is one of Scotland's national museums, on Chambers Street, in Edinburgh. The original Royal Museum began in the 19th century and was added to in the 1990s when a new building known as The Museum of Scotland was added, both merging in 2007 into The National Museum of Scotland.

Photo credit: Shimgray

The Wallace Monument is a sandstone tower, built in the Victorian Gothic style. It stands on the summit of Abbey Craig, a volcanic crag above Cambuskenneth Abbey, from which Wallace was said to have watched the gathering of the army of English king Edward I, just before the Battle of Stirling Bridge.

Photo credit: Ray Mann

Fair Isle (from Old Norse Frjóey) (Scottish Gaelic: Eileann nan Geansaidh) is an island off Scotland, lying around halfway between Shetland and the Orkney Islands. The most remote inhabited island in the United Kingdom, it is famous for its bird observatory and a traditional style of knitting.

Photo credit: Julian Paren

Calton Hill is a hill in central Edinburgh, just to the east of the New Town. The hill is home to several iconic monuments and buildings: the National Monument, Nelson's Monument, the Dugald Stewart Monument, the Royal High School, the Robert Burns Monument, the Political Martyrs' Monument and the City Observatory.

Photo credit: Andrewyuill

Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. In the language of flowers, the thistle (like the burr) is an ancient Celtic symbol of nobility of character as well as of birth, for the wounding or provocation of a thistle yields punishment.

Photo credit: Fir0002

The Glasgow Necropolis is a Victorian cemetery in Glasgow. It sits on a hill above, and to the east of, St. Mungo's Cathedral. It was conceived as a Père Lachaise for Glasgow, and subsequently established by the Merchants' House of Glasgow in 1831. Fifty thousand individuals have been buried in approximately 3500 tombs.

Photo credit: Finlay McWalter

Cape Wrath (Scottish Gaelic: Am Parbh, known as An Carbh in Lewis) is a cape in the Durness parish of the county of Sutherland in the Highlands of Scotland, and is the most north-westerly point in Great Britain.

Photo credit: RealSnowhunter

Dunfermline Abbey is a large Benedictine abbey in Dunfermline, Fife. It was administered by the Abbot of Dunfermline. The abbey was founded in 1128 by King David I, but the monastic establishment was based on an earlier foundation dating back to the reign of King Máel Coluim mac Donnchada (i.e. "Malcolm III" or "Malcolm Canmore", r. 1058-93).

Photo credit: Mussklprozz

Iona (Scottish Gaelic: Ì Chaluim Chille) is a small island in the Inner Hebrides off the western coast of Scotland. It was a centre of Celtic Christianity for four centuries and is today renowned for its tranquility and natural beauty. It is a popular tourist destination.

Photo credit: Clydecoast

The Callanish Stones are an arrangement of standing stones near the village of Callanish on the west coast of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Placed in a cruciform pattern with a central stone circle, they were erected in the late Neolithic era, and were a focus for ritual activity during the Bronze Age

Photo credit: Mrdog10

Robert the Bruce statue at the Bannockburn Visitor Centre, Bannockburn, Stirling, is a 1964 work by Pilkington Jackson. The bronze sculpture depicts Robert the Bruce wielding an axe and on a war horse.

Photo credit: Martin Kraft

Holyrood Palace is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Located at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood has served as the principal royal residence in Scotland since the 16th century, and is a setting for state occasions and official entertaining.

Photo credit: Christoph Strässler

The geography of Scotland is highly varied, from rural lowlands to barren uplands, and from large cities to uninhabited islands. Aside from the mainland, Scotland is surrounded by 790 islands encompassing the major archipelagoes of the Shetland Islands, Orkney Islands and the Outer Hebrides.

Photo credit: NASA

Autumnal colours seen in an aerial view of the bridge over the River Garry, Perthshire.

Photo credit: Ian Dick

Hill House in Helensburgh, Scotland, was created by architects and designers Charles and Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh. The house was built in a Modern Style way.

Photo credit: JeremyA

The Commando Memorial is a monument in Lochaber, dedicated to the men of the original British Commando Forces Situated around a mile from Spean Bridge, it was erected during World War II and unveiled in 1952 by the Queen Mother. The 17 foot high Memorial was designed by Scott Sutherland from Dundee College of Art in 1949 and comprises three gigantic bronze figures clad in battledress, woollen caps and climbing boots looking across the Great Glen.

Photo credit: P A Woodward

Canisp and Suilven seen from the coastal fishing and crofting village of Clachtoll in Sutherland county, on the north western edge of Scotland.

Photo credit: Louis_Daillencourt

Loch Fyne (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Fìne, meaning "Loch of the Vine or Wine", is a sea loch on the west coast of Argyll and Bute. Although there is no evidence for grapes growing there, it was more metaphorical, such as meaning that the River, Abhainn Fìne, was a well-respected river.

Photo credit: Michael Parry

Scott's View refers to a viewpoint in the Scottish Borders, overlooking the valley of the River Tweed, which is reputed to be one of the favourite views of Sir Walter Scott. The viewpoint can be located directly from a minor road leading south from Earlston just off the A68 and by travelling north from the village of St. Boswells up the slope of Bemersyde Hill. The view is around 3 miles east of Melrose.

Photo credit: Semi-detached

Mons Meg is a medieval bombard in the collection of the Royal Armouries, on loan to Historic Environment Scotland and located at Edinburgh Castle. It was built in 1449 on the orders of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, and sent by him as a gift to James II, King of Scots, in 1454. The bombard was employed in sieges until the middle of the 16th century

Photo credit: Lee Sie

Durness (Scottish Gaelic: Diùirnis) is a huge but remote parish in the northwestern Highlands, encompassing all the land between the Moine to the East (separating it from Tongue parish) and the Gualin to the West (separating it from Eddrachilis).

Photo credit: Neil Booth

John Knox House, popularly known as John Knox's House, is a historic house in Edinburgh, Scotland, reputed to have been owned and lived in by Protestant reformer John Knox during the 16th century.

Photo credit: Kim Traynor

36-inch telescope at the Royal Observatory on Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, the location of the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC).

Photo credit: Science and Technology Facilities Council

The Queensferry Crossing (formerly the Forth Replacement Crossing) is a road bridge in Scotland. It was built alongside the existing Forth Road Bridge and the Forth Bridge. It carries the M90 motorway across the Firth of Forth between Edinburgh, at South Queensferry, and Fife, at North Queensferry.

Photo credit: Greg Fitchett

Lighthouse on the Bass Rock, an island in the outer part of the Firth of Forth, home to the world's largest colony of northern gannets.

Photo credit: Ben Clarke

The Scottish National Gallery, in Edinburgh, is the national art gallery of Scotland. An elaborate neoclassical edifice, it stands on The Mound, between the two sections of Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens. The building, which was designed by William Henry Playfair, first opened to the public in 1859.

Photo credit: Klaus with K

Glenfinnan Viaduct is a railway viaduct on the West Highland Line in Glenfinnan, Lochaber, Highland. It was built between 1897 and 1901. Located at the top of Loch Shiel in the West Highlands, the viaduct overlooks the Glenfinnan Monument and the waters of Loch Shiel.

Photo credit: Nicolas17

The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge over the Firth of Forth. It was opened on 4 March 1890, and spans a total length of 2,528.7 metres (8,296 ft). It is often called the Forth Rail Bridge or Forth Railway Bridge to distinguish it from the Forth Road Bridge.

Photo credit: George Gastin

Hopetoun House is the traditional residence of the Earl of Hopetoun (later the Marquess of Linlithgow). It was built 1699-1701, designed by William Bruce. It was then hugely extended from 1721 by William Adam until his death in 1748 being one of his most notable projects. The parklands in which it lies were laid out in 1725, also by William Adam.

Photo credit: George Gastin

Meall a' Bhùiridh and Lochan na h-Achlaise on Rannoch Moor viewed from the A82 en route to Glen Coe in the HIghlands..

Photo credit: Fuzzy14

Pennan (Scots: Peenan) is a small village in Aberdeenshire] consisting of a small harbour and a single row of homes. Pennan became famous for representing the fictional village of Ferness, being one of the main locations for the film Local Hero.

Photo credit: Tadpolefarm

Bealach na Bà is a historic pass through the mountains of the Applecross peninsula, in Wester Ross in the Scottish Highlands—and the name of a famous twisting, single-track mountain road through the pass and mountains. The road is one of few in the Scottish Highlands that is engineered similarly to roads through the great mountain passes in the Alps, with very tight hairpin bends that switch back and forth up the hillside.

Photo credit: Stefan Krause

The Bruichladdich distillery is a distillery on the Rhinns of the isle of Islay in Scotland. The distillery produces mainly single malt Scotch whisky, but has also offered artisanal gin.

Photo credit: Bdcl1881

The Riverside Museum on the River Clyde in Glasgow, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. The new museum now houses the Glasgow Museum of Transport. Berthed next to it is the Clyde-built sailing ship the Glenlee..

Photo credit: Neil Williamson

Edinburgh Castle is a fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear. There has been a royal castle here since at least the reign of King David in the 12th century, and the site continued to be a royal residence until the Union of the Crowns in 1603.

Photo credit: Saffron_Blaze

The Black Watch War Memorial, at the corner of Market Street and North Bank Street on the Mound in Edinburgh.

Photo credit: AdMeskens

The Dunmore Pineapple, a folly in Dunmore Park, near Airth in Stirlingshire

Photo credit: George.Gastin

Loch Torridon (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Thoirbheartan) is a sea loch on the west coast of the Northwest Highlands. The loch was created by glacial processes and is in total around 15 miles (25 km) long. It has two sections: Upper Loch Torridon to landward, east of Rubha na h-Airde Ghlaise, at which point it joins Loch Sheildaig; and the main western section of Loch Torridon proper.

Photo credit: Stefan Krause

The Finnieston Crane or Stobcross Crane is a disused giant cantilever crane in the centre of Glasgow. It is no longer operational, but is retained as a symbol of the city's engineering heritage. The crane was used for loading cargo, in particular steam locomotives, onto ships to be exported around the world.

Photo credit: VegasGav7777

The Kelpies are a pair of monumental steel horse-heads between the Scottish towns of Falkirk and Grangemouth. They stand next to the M9 motorway and form the eastern gateway of the Forth and Clyde Canal, which meets the River Carron here. Each head is 30 metres (98 ft) high. The sculptures, which represent kelpies, were designed by sculptor Andy Scott and were completed in October 2013.

Photo credit: James Allan

RRS Discovery was the last traditional wooden three-masted ship to be built in Britain. Designed for Antarctic research, she was launched as a Royal Research Ship (RRS) in 1901. Her first mission was the British National Antarctic Expedition, carrying Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton on their first, successful journey to the Antarctic, known as the Discovery Expedition. She is now the centrepiece of a visitor attraction in her home, Dundee.

Photo credit: Mactographer

Skara Brae is a stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland, the largest island in the Orkney archipelago. It consists of eight clustered houses, and was occupied from roughly 3180 BCE–2500 BCE. Europe's most complete Neolithic village, Skara Brae gained UNESCO World Heritage Site status as one of four sites making up "The Heart of Neolithic Orkney".

Photo credit: craig w macgregor

A view of Blackrock Cottage on Rannoch Moor with Buachaille Etive Mor in the background.

Photo credit: Andrewmckie

Tobermoray (Scottish Gaelic: Tobar Mhoire) is the capital of, and the only burgh on, the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides. It is located in the northeastern part of the island, near the northern entrance of the Sound of Mull. The town was founded as a fishing port in 1788, its layout based on the designs of Dumfriesshire engineer Thomas Telford.

Photo credit: Lukas von Daeniken

Braemar is a village in Aberdeenshire, around 58 miles (93 km) west of Aberdeen in the Highlands. Sitting at an altitude of 339 metres (1,112 ft), Braemar is the third coldest low lying place in the UK, after the villages of Dalwhinnie and Leadhills. It has twice entered the UK Weather Records with the lowest ever UK temperature of -27.2^oC, on 11 February 1895, and 10 January 1982.

Photo credit: Paul Chapman

A broch is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure of a type found only in Scotland. Brochs belong to the classification "complex atlantic roundhouse" devised by Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s. Their origin is a matter of some controversy.

Photo credit: Otter

Jarlshof is the best known prehistoric archaeological site in Shetland. It lies near the southern tip of the Shetland Mainland and has been described as "one of the most remarkable archaeological sites ever excavated in the British Isles".

Photo credit: Nigel Duncan

Barra Airport (Scottish Gaelic: Port-adhair Bharraigh) (IATA: BRR, ICAO: EGPR) (also known as Barra Eoligarry Airport) is a short-runway airport (or STOLport) situated in the wide shallow bay of Traigh Mhòr at the north tip of the island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. The airport is unique, being the only one in the world where scheduled flights use a beach as the runway. Photo credit: Steve Holdsworth

A common seal (Phoca vitulina) seen basking on rocks off Lismore, Argyll.

Photo credit: Sharp Photography

Cells of Life, a landform by Charles Jencks at Jupiter Artland, a contemporary sculpture park and art gallery outside the city of Edinburgh.

Photo credit: Allan Pollok-Morris

Sunset in Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park. The high peak on left of the image is Ben Lomond.

Photo credit: Michal Klajban

The second chamber of the Smoo Cave, Durness in Sutherland.

Photo credit: Florian_Fuchs

St Mary's Cathedral viewed from Manor Place, Edinburgh.

Photo credit: Discott

Walker Alex Schulz slacklining at the Old Man of Hoy, a 449-foot (137-metre) sea stack on Hoy, part of the Orkney archipelago .

Photo credit: AlexSchulz91

Sunrise over Ben Vorlich , a mountain in the Southern Highlands and Loch Tay, the largest body of fresh water in Perth and Kinross.

Photo credit: Michal Klajban

Traigh Iar (Horgabost beach), Harris, which is part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island in the Outer Hebrides, .

Photo credit: Gordon Hatton

Rannoch Moor (/ˈrænəx/ ^ⓘ; Scottish Gaelic: Mòinteach Rai(th)neach) is an expanse of around 50 square miles (130 km²) of boggy moorland to the west of Loch Rannoch in Scotland, from where it extends into westerly Perth and Kinross, northerly Lochaber (in Highland), and the area of Highland Scotland toward its south-west, northern Argyll and Bute. Rannoch Moor is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Special Area of Conservation.

Photo credit: Chjris Combe

Detail of the V&A museum, Dundee from the west with the Tay Bridge beyond.

Photo credit: Richard Szwejkowski

Evening view from Calton Hill towards an illuminated Edinburgh Castle with the Bank of Scotland headquarters and the Balmoral Hotel illuminated in the intermediate foreground. The sillhouettes of the Scott Monument and the tall gothic spire of the Hub are both prominent in the frame.

Photo credit: Chris Fleming

Autumnal view of Glasgow University main building with Dumgoyne and the Campsie Fells in the background

Photo credit: Ian Dick

Loch Lomond viewed from Balmaha

Photo credit: Andy Farrington

Wellington Church, a 19th-century church on University Avenue in Glasgow with the frontage in the neoclassical style of a Greek temple.

Photo credit: Mymuk

Directional signpost at John o' Groats

Photo credit: Davidcarroll

Balmoral Castle. Aberdeenshire a residence of the British royal family in the Scottish baronial style.

Photo credit: Ejdzej

The Armoury at Inveraray Castle

Photo credit: Stuart Wilding

Caledonian MacBrayne ferry MV Isle of Arran leaving Port Askaig, Islay with Jura visible in the background]]

Photo credit: Gordon Halton

Luskentyre Beach, Lewis and Harris, the Outer Hebrides

Photo credit: Thomas_Andy_Branson

View from the Rest and be thankful pass on the A83 in Argyll and Bute.

Photo credit: Macieklew

A group of Canada geese at Musselburgh

Photo credit: Send in the clouds

Fingal's Cave, a sea cave on Staffa

Photo credit: Luk~commonswiki

Highland Park Distillery

Photo credit: Alan Jamieson

The Vat of Kirbister, a natural arch on thr island of Stronsay, Orkney

Photo credit: David Loutit

Building fronting the Water of Leith in the Dean Village, Edinburgh

Photo credit: 瑞丽江的河水