Sunday 23 October 2005:
 Trust
members had an informative and enjoyable guided tour of the new innovative
Parliament building at Holyrood. The tour started within the main
foyer, which hosts a large exhibition about the workings and the history
of Scottish Parliament. From there, we climbed impressive Granite
and Oak staircases, walked through various corridors, and glazed
walkways. Our tour took us to the Garden
Lobby, which, as is the rest of the parliament building, mainly built
from a mixture of steel, glass, Kemnay Granite (from Aberdeenshire),
Caithness Stone, oak and sycamore timber.
 Our
guide explained that the Spanish architect, Enric Miralles, who designed
the building, had the vision that the building was to be seen as
"growing out of the land". Apart from the building
materials used, this vision is evident within the Garden
Lobby where the views from the building look to be an extension of
Salisbury Crags. The interior rooflights have been designed to look
like large leafs (or upturned boats) and the many stainless steel air
vents can, interestingly, be viewed as looking like either maps of the
Western coast of Scotland, or, the 'Lion Rampant' which was the royal flag
of the Scottish Court. This lobby also shows part of the integration
of the renovated 17th century A-listed Queensberry House that was first
built for Dame Margaret Douglas of Balmakellie. During the 19th
century, this building was used as a general hospital, army barracks, as a
house of refuge and returned to being a hospital again in 1945.
 From
the Lobby our tour took us through large wooden doors beneath the Arniston
Stone, a stone lintel that came from the original Parliament House
building where the pre 1707 Union Scottish Parliament met. This is a
key symbolic link between Holyrood and Scotland's history. We then
entered the Debating Chamber
a most impressive mix of modern architecture incorporating wood, glass and
steel - again the views show the vision of the extension to Salisbury
Crags - "growing out of the land".
Our guide explained how parliament works from the opening of the glass
encased ceremonial mace, the two clocks - one for the real time and one to
time each MSP's allotted 'debate time' to the jobs of the Presiding
Officer, committees and the MSPs. From there we went to one of the
committee rooms where it was explained that the public are able to sit in
on any committees.
Sheila Ashby
15 Nov 2005.
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