The Queen's Gallery is an

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It forms part of the

Palace of Holyroodhouse The Palace of Holyroodhouse ( or ), commonly referred to as Holyrood Palace or Holyroodhouse, 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 ...

complex. It was opened in 2002 by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

, and exhibits works from the

Royal Collection The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world. Spread among 13 occupied and historic royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King Charles III and overseen by the ...

. It is open to the public daily. The building is Category B listed.

History

The Queen's Gallery is housed primarily in a Gothic building that was originally built between 1846 and 1850 as ''Holyrood Free Church'', a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

of the Free Church of Scotland then, from 1900, of the

United Free Church of Scotland The United Free Church of Scotland (UF Church; gd, An Eaglais Shaor Aonaichte, sco, The Unitit Free Kirk o Scotland) is a Scottish Presbyterian denomination formed in 1900 by the union of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland (or UP) and ...

). The church was last used for worship in 1915, when it became a

redundant church A redundant church, now referred to as a "closed church", is a church building that is no longer used for Christian worship. The term most frequently refers to former Anglican churches in the United Kingdom, but may also be used for disused church ...

. Prior to its conversion to become the Queen's Gallery the church building was used as a storeroom. The Gallery also comprises the

neo-Jacobean The Jacobethan or Jacobean Revival architectural style is the mixed national Renaissance revival style that was made popular in England from the late 1820s, which derived most of its inspiration and its repertory from the English Renaissance (15 ...

building which housed the former ''Free Church School'', which was built at the same time as the church. The building of the church and the school was funded by

Elizabeth Gordon, Duchess of Gordon Elizabeth Gordon, Duchess of Gordon (''née'' Brodie; 20 June 1794 – 31 January 1864), was a Scottish noblewoman. In 1813, she married George Gordon, Marquis of Huntly, afterwards the 5th Duke of Gordon. She was a member of the Scottish E ...

, who was an early supporter of the Free Church. The former school was converted into accommodation for the palace's

chauffeur A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine. Originally, such drivers were often personal employees of the vehicle owner, but this has changed to speciali ...

s in the 1920s. In 2002, the buildings were converted to form the Queen's Gallery under plans by Benjamin Tindall Architects. The gallery is primarily housed on the first floor in a large space with an open timber roof. In 2019, former SNP MP

George Kerevan George Kerevan (born 28 September 1949) is a Scottish journalist, economist, and politician. He was the Scottish National Party (SNP) Member of Parliament (MP) for East Lothian from 2015, until he lost his seat at the snap 2017 general elec ...

suggested that the gallery building should be moved or demolished to create an uninterrupted 'Freedom square' between Holyrood Palace and the

Scottish Parliament Building ; sco, Scots Pairlament Biggin , native_name_lang = , former_names = , alternate_names = Holyrood , image = Scottish Parliament building - geograph.org.uk - 2469654.jpg , image_alt = , caption ...

Exhibitions

The gallery houses temporary exhibitions throughout the year that are drawn from the Royal Collection. Past exhibitions have included: * 2022 - Masterpieces from Buckingham Palace, including paintings from

Sir Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh c ...

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

and Peter Paul Reubens. * 2021 - Watercolour paintings from the personal collections of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

and Prince Albert. * 2019/2020 - Drawings of

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

. The exhibition was the largest collection of works by Da Vinci assembled in Scotland to date. * 2019 - Russian art, including photographs, objects and paintings.

External links

The Royal Collection: The Queen's Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse

References

{{authority control Tourist attractions in Edinburgh Art museums and galleries in Edinburgh Category B listed buildings in Edinburgh Art museums established in 2002 2002 establishments in Scotland Former churches in Scotland

History

Exhibitions

See also

External links

References