Ground floor, Music room, detail of map design on ceiling

Description Ground floor, Music room, detail of map design on ceiling

Date 23/10/1994

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number C 44279

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 721012

Scope and Content Map of the world sculpture on the ceiling of the former map library (now the music room) in the National Library of Scotland, No 57 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh The National Library of Scotland was designed by architect Reginald Fairlie (1883-1952) between 1934 and 1936, and built 1937-9 (initial construction period). It was completed 1950-5 with A R Conlon as architect. This Neo-Classical library is nine storeys high, with two storeys on George IV Bridge, and the remaining seven below the bridge on the Cowgate. This glass panel divided by metal bars and lit from behind has the map of the world depicted upon it in shaped wire. This room was the original map library, and so the decoration was chosen to complement the collection. Additional lighting is provided by florescent lights. The most famous map depicting the world on a plane (on a flat surface, rather than on a globe) was devised by the Dutch geographer Mercator (1512-92). This stylised example from c.1956 is similar to a projection perfected by American cartographer Arthur Robinson in 1963. This building has been selected as one of Scotland's key 20th-century Modern architectural monuments. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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