Sights in Aberdeen
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Marischal College & Museum
Across Broad St from Provost Skene’s House is Marischal College, founded in 1593 by the 5th Earl Marischal, and merged with King’s College (founded 1495) in 1860 to create the modern University of Aberdeen. The huge and impressive facade in Perpendicular Gothic style – unusual in having such elaborate masonry hewn from notoriously hard-to-work granite – dates from 1906 and is the world’s second-largest granite structure (after L’Escorial near Madrid). At the time of research the building was being converted into Aberdeen City Council’s new headquarters.
Founded in 1786, the Marischal Museum houses a fascinating collection of material donated by graduates and…
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Aberdeen Art Gallery
Behind the grand facade of Aberdeen Art Gallery is a cool, marble-lined space exhibiting the work of contemporary Scottish and English painters, such as Gwen Hardie, Stephen Conroy, Trevor Sutton and Tim Ollivier. There are also several landscapes by Joan Eardley, who lived in a cottage on the cliffs near Stonehaven in the 1950s and ’60s and painted tempestuous oils of the North Sea and poignant portraits of slum children. Among the Pre-Raphaelite works upstairs, look out for the paintings of Aberdeen artist William Dyce (1806–64), ranging from religious works to rural scenes. Downstairs is a large, empty, circular white room, with fish-scaled balustrades evoking the brin…
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Aberdeen Beach
Aberdeen Beach is 800m east of the city centre. A spectacular 2-mile sweep of clean, golden sand stretching between the mouths of the Rivers Dee and Don. At one time Aberdeen Beach was a good, old-fashioned British seaside resort, but the availability of cheap package holidays has lured Scottish holidaymakers away from its somewhat chilly delights. On a warm summer's day, though, it's still an excellent beach.
You can get away from the fun fair atmosphere by walking north towards the more secluded part of the beach. There is a bird-watching hide on the south bank of the River Don, between the beach and King St, which leads back south towards Old Aberdeen.
Buses 14 and 15 (…
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Aberdeen Maritime Museum
Overlooking the nautical bustle of the harbour is the Maritime Museum. Centred on a three-storey replica of a North Sea oil production platform, its exhibits explain all you ever wanted to know about the petroleum industry. Other galleries, some situated in Provost Ross’s House, the oldest building in the city and part of museum, cover the shipbuilding, whaling and fishing industries. Sleek and speedy Aberdeen clippers were a 19th-century shipyard speciality, used by British merchants for the importation of tea, wool and exotic goods (opium, for instance) to Britain, and, on the return journey, the transportation of emigrants to Australia.
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Provost Skene’s House
Surrounded by concrete and glass office blocks in what was once the worst slum in Aberdeen is Provost Skene’s House, a late-medieval turreted town house occupied in the 17th century by the provost (the Scottish equivalent of a mayor) Sir George Skene. It was also occupied for six weeks by the Duke of Cumberland on his way to Culloden in 1746. The tempera-painted ceiling with its religious symbolism, dating from 1622, is unusual for having survived the depredations of the Reformation. It’s a period gem featuring earnest-looking angels, soldiers and St Peter with crowing cockerels.
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Union Street
Union Street, the main shopping street, runs along the crest of this ridge between Holburn Junction in the west and Castlegate in the east. It's the city's main thoroughfare, lined with solid, Victorian granite buildings. The oldest area is Castlegate, at the eastern end, where the castle once stood. When it was captured from the English for Robert the Bruce, the password used by the townspeople was 'Bon Accord', which is now the city's motto.
On the northern side of Union St is St Nicholas Church.
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Gordon Highlanders Museum
The excellent Gordon Highlanders Museum records the history of one of the British Army’s most famous fighting units, described by Winston Churchill as ‘the finest regiment in the world’. Originally raised in the northeast of Scotland by the 4th Duke of Gordon in 1794, the regiment was amalgamated with the Seaforths and Camerons to form the Highlanders regiment in 1994. The museum is about a mile west of the western end of Union St – take bus 14 or 15 from Union St.
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St Machar’s Cathedral
The 15th-century St Machar’s Cathedral, with its massive twin towers, is a rare example of a fortified cathedral. According to legend, St Machar was ordered to establish a church where the river takes the shape of a bishop’s crook, which it does just here. The cathedral is best known for its impressive heraldic ceiling, dating from 1520, which has 48 shields of kings, nobles, archbishops and bishops. Sunday services are held at 11am and 6pm.
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St Nicholas Church
On the northern side of Union St, 300m west of Castlegate, is St Nicholas Church, the so-called 'Mither Kirk' (Mother Church) of Aberdeen. The granite spire dates from the 19th century, but there has been a church on this site since the 12th century; the early 15th-century St Mary's Chapel survives in the eastern part of the church.
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King’s College Chapel
The 16th-century King’s College Chapel is easily recognised by its crown spire; the interior is largely unchanged since it was first built, with impressive stained-glass windows and choir stalls.
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Aberdeen Harbour
Aberdeen has a busy, working harbour crowded with survey vessels and supply ships servicing the offshore oil installations, and car ferries bound for Orkney and Shetland.
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Bird-Watching Hide
There is a bird-watching hide on the south bank of the River Don, between the beach and King St, which leads back south towards Old Aberdeen.
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King’s College Visitor Centre
The King’s College Visitor Centre houses a multimedia display on the university’s history and a pleasant coffee shop.
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Salvation Army Citadel
The Baronial heap towering over the eastern end of Castle St is the Salvation Army Citadel , which was modelled on Balmoral Castle.
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Satrosphere
Halfway between the beach and the city centre is Satrosphere, a hands-on, interactive science centre.
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Mercat Cross
The 17th-century Mercat Cross bears a sculpted frieze of portraits of Stuart monarchs.
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