Doors Open Day - September 2014

1st September 2014

Doors Open Days give you free access to hundreds of fascinating buildings across Scotland. Every weekend in September you can explore places that are normally closed to the public. Some open up once a year, some just once in a lifetime. This is your chance to discover the architecture, design, buildings, places and spaces right on your doorstep or explore a new part of the country.

Doors Open Days 2014: Scotland through the Keyhole officially launched last week at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow signalling what is sure to be an exciting month of looking through the keyholes and getting into some of the most fascinating buildings in the country.

With the help of local school children, the RSPB and staff of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum the Doors Open Days team declared Scotland's annual festival of architecture, design, culture and communities officially opened for 2014.

Inspired by famous Scots such as William Wallace and Kate Cranston, pupils of Hillhead Primary school and family visitors to the museum designed and crafted miniature doors and keys. They showed of the hard work at the launch with a fabulous Parade of Doors and Keys in celebration of Doors Open Days.

The launch also marked the opening of Scotland Through the Keyhole, an exhibition of photography commissioned by the Scottish Civic Trust and supported by Homecoming Scotland 2014. Featuring 22 photographs by landscape photographer Damian Shields the exhibition showcases the very best of what the festival offers and what residents and visitors to Scotland can anticipate getting into this year and beyond.

The exhibition is now open to the public at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and like all of Doors Open Days events is free to attend. It will run from 26 August to 21 September and is not to be missed.

With almost all of the area programmes online visitors can start planning their very own Doors Open Days. Some programmes have events that require booking and will be snapped up fast, so don't delay in getting online and getting started planning. Visitors can search by area, search by date or search by theme www.doorsopendays.org.uk

Pauline McCloy-Turtle, Scottish Civic Trust said:‘This launch event is a great snap shot of what the festival is all about: communities getting involved, families making things together, venues like this wonderful gallery joining in and going that extra mile, and most of all, it is about people getting out and about and getting into buildings. Scotland is such a beautiful country and it is our pleasure to help showcase its buildings and its landscapes to the world.

Frequent visitors already know this and now, with the help of these photographs, we can spread that message even further afield. As part of the Homecoming Scotland 2014 cultural programme we look forward to welcoming in the world and today has been a terrific springboard to just that.'

Housing Minister Margaret Burgess said:‘I am delighted that Doors Open Days 2014: Scotland through the keyhole has been included in the Homecoming Scotland 2014 programme. This is a great opportunity that everyone should take advantage of to get free access to hundreds of buildings across Scotland that are not normally open to the public.

The Year of Homecoming in 2014 provides a unique opportunity to encourage more and more visitors, both international and domestic to come and enjoy Scotland and will position Scotland on the international stage as a dynamic and creative nation.'

In Highland see the full programme HERE