Building Design

As a symbol of Scotland, Edwin Landseer's celebrated painting Monarch of the Glen (1851) has been eclipsed of late by the BBC's eponymous series portraying a bucolic existence in the fictional village of Glenbogle. This mutation of iconography and filtered reality is endemic of our time; nonetheless Scotland has always attracted gifted writers-cum-intrepid travellers eager to mythologise its epic scenery and ancient customs. But how should a post-devolution Scotland present itself to the world? Certainly the completion of Miralles' magisterial Parliament will require even the roughest guide books to be rewritten. It will also trump the spectacle of the Fraser Inquiry, where accusations of incompetence and cover-up cannot quench the growing excitement surrounding its imminent opening. Soon Scotland will have a bold new icon for the 21st century.