Seacliff's Tiny Harbour

eacliff is a little known corner of East Lothian five miles east of North Berwick and immediately to the south east of Tantallon Castle, of which it offers some of the finest views available. It comprises an estate including the sad ruin of a once great house; a beautiful beach looking north towards Bass Rock; a remarkable, tiny harbour; and the almost hidden ruins of a castle. 

The ruins of Seacliff House

3-storey and attic Scottish Baronial mansion. Squared and stugged stone and ashlar dressings. Curtain wall remains on asymmetrical plan, of asymmetrical design, including stock Bryce Baronial motifs; squared corbelled bartizans, crowstepped gables and balustraded balconies. Bryce was commissioned in 1841 to design the mansion around a long, low, narrow earlier house, by George Sligo, a relation of Bryce's later client at Inzievar House, Dunfermline. John Watson Laidlay commissioned the enlargement in 1850. The Baronial style was polularised by Burn and Bryce, and Seacliffe demonstrated the specifically Brycian variant of the style. The house was seriously damaged by fire in the 20th century, but the stables and service cottage remain. (Historic Scotland)

http://ruination-scotland.com/2013/02/04/ruin-of-the-month-seacliff-house/

burn robbie burns & few pets

Scottish Parliament

Since September 2004, the official home of the Scottish Parliament has been a new Scottish Parliament Building, in the Holyrood area of Edinburgh. Designed by Spanish architect Enric Miralles, some of the principal features of the complex include leaf-shaped buildings, a grass-roofed branch merging into adjacent parkland and gabion walls formed from the stones of previous buildings. Throughout the building there are many repeated motifs, such as shapes based on Raeburn's Skating Minister.^[18] Crow-stepped gables and the upturned boat skylights of the Garden Lobby, complete the unique^[19] architecture. Queen Elizabeth II opened the new building on 9 October 2004.

In March 2006, one of the Holyrood building's roof beams slipped out of its support and was left dangling above the back benches during a debate.^[20] The debating chamber was subsequently closed, and MSPs moved to The Hub for one week, whilst inspections were carried out.^[21] During repairs, all chamber business was conducted in the Parliament's committee room two.

Whilst the permanent building at Holyrood was being constructed, the Parliament's temporary home was the General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh.^[22] Official photographs and television interviews were held in the courtyard adjoining the Assembly Hall, which is part of theSchool of Divinity of the University of Edinburgh. This building was vacated twice to allow for the meeting of the Church's General Assembly. In May 2000, the Parliament was temporarily relocated to the former Strathclyde Regional Council debating chamber in Glasgow, and to the University of Aberdeen in May 2002.^[23]

In addition to the General Assembly Hall, the Parliament also used buildings rented from the City of Edinburgh Council. The former administrative building of Lothian Regional Council on George IV Bridge was used for the MSP's offices. Following the move to Holyrood in 2004 this building was demolished. The former Midlothian County Buildings facing Parliament Square, High Street and George IV Bridge in Edinburgh (originally built as the headquarters of the pre-1975 Midlothian County Council) housed the Parliament's visitors' centre and shop, whilst the main hall was used as the Parliament's principal committee room.

The Lanterns of Terracotta Warriors in Edinburgh

The lanterns have arrived at Edinburgh University’s Old College Quadrangle and will be there daily from 4pm – 9pm from the 29th January until 7th February. Chinese New Year falls on 31st January 2014.

Around 90 brightly coloured figures up to 2.5m tall have populated the Old College quadrangle. The lantern army includes women and children as well as men with horses. The exhibition has been coordinated by the University of Edinburgh in partnership with Event International, with thanks to Chaoyang Cultural Centre, Beijing.

The Lanterns of Terracotta Warriors exhibition was commissioned in 2008 for the Beijing Olympic Games. The lanterns are inspired by the famous ‘terracotta army’ discovered when the tomb of the 3rd Century BC Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang was found in Xi’an province in 1974. This army, housed in an underground vault of 12,000sq.m, comprised 8,000 warriors arranged in battle formation, ready to defend the emperor’s immortal soul.The ‘Lanterns of Terracotta Army’ has already been presented in Beijing, Shanghai and other major Chinese cities and was exhibited with great success as part of the Stockton International Festival (SIRF) to commemorate the festival twinning of Beijing Chaoyang Spring Carnival on the occasion of SIRF’s 25th anniversary and most recently as part of Birmingham’s Illuminate Festival!! Event International are carrying out Tour Management in the UK and Europe for the exhibition.

The artist of the lantern exhibition chose to humanise the terracotta army, in keeping with the traditions of Chinese lantern design. These brightly coloured, greater than life size figures are accurate representations of the terracotta soldiers, but this ‘army’ includes women and children arranged in family groups.