Cookies

We use necessary cookies to make our site work. We'd also like to set optional analytics cookies to help us improve it. We won't set optional cookies unless you enable them or accept our recommended settings. Using this tool will set a cookie on your device to remember your preferences.

Options
Necessary cookies enable core functionality on our website. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.
We use marketing cookies to personalise your visit to our website and show you tailored advertising based on your likes and interests.
We use analytics cookies to monitor visitor behaviour patterns and improve our website performance.

Your preferences have been set. If you wish to change your preferences, you may do so on our cookies page.

Search My Trust
Join now
Join
Close

Looking for places? Use our place search to find them by name, town or postcode.

See all stories
27 Apr 2018

Falkland tapestries return from Belgium ablaze with colour

Written by Antonia Laurence-Allen (Curator, Edinburgh and East Region)
Detail in a tapestry showing two lovers in a forest, before and after cleaning
Detail showing two lovers in a forest before and after cleaning
The Trust collaborated with Hopetoun House Preservation Trust to send the tapestries to Belgium, where a state-of-the-art cleaning system for historical tapestries, patented by the Royal Manufacturers De Wit, removed a century of dirt. They left Falkland in February and we re-installed them just after Easter.

These Flemish verdure tapestries were woven in Belgium in the 17th century. Thanks to the cleaning, we can now fully appreciate the depth of colour, movement and richness of the imagery.

Tapestry Gallery, Falkland Palace
Tapestry Gallery, Falkland Palace
Detail in a tapestry illustrating lush green landscape, with ivy leaves winding around chunky branches.
Detail illustrating the lush green landscape
  • Detail of a hunting dog catching a bird, before cleaning

    Detail of a hunting dog catching a bird (before cleaning)

  • Detail in a tapestry of a hunting dog catching a bird, after cleaning

    Detail of a hunting dog catching a bird (after cleaning)

  • Detail in a tapestry of cattle, before cleaning

    Detail of cattle (before cleaning)

  • Detail in a tapestry of cattle after cleaning

    Detail of cattle (after cleaning)

  • Detail in a tapestry of an archer, before cleaning

    Detail of archer (before cleaning)

  • Detail in a tapestry of an archer, after cleaning

    Detail of archer (after cleaning)

Explore Falkland Palace

Visit now

Featured Places

A view of Falkland Palace from the gardens on a sunny summer's day. A stretch of green lawn ends in a collection of different trees and shrubs. Behind those the stone walls of the palace are visible, with the tower stretching up into the blue sky.
Place

Falkland Palace

A fine Renaissance palace with an extensive formal garden and one of Britain’s oldest tennis courts

The Kingdom of Fife

Read next

A man stands at the top of a scaffold, working on an enormous tapestry.

Tapestries travel to Belgium for special treatment

The Trust is working in collaboration with Hopetoun House Preservation Trust to send tapestries to Belgium, where a state-of-the-art cleaning system for historic tapestries, patented by the Royal Manufacturers De Wit, will remove a century of dirt.

Specialist textile conservator Sophie Younger pins netting to a tapestry in Falkland Palace, which is decorated with a forest scene.

Stitching the past: the tale of the Falkland tapestries

We are conserving special tapestries that have hung at Falkland Palace for 115 years. We look back at how their story reveals decades of care and restoration throughout the 20th century.

Two women stand looking at plants, one with a clipboard

The PLANTS project: A day in the life

The PLANTS project concludes in 2025 after auditing plant collections across Trust gardens. Inventory Officer Lucrezia Rossi reflects on her role and her experiences over the last two and a half years.

Close-up of the stomach of a white 18th-century dress. Buttons go down the front and small pink, white, green and blue tassels on cords form zigzags between the buttons.

Out in the open: caring for a dress on open display

Textiles are fascinating and delicate objects. In the last of the Ramsay exhibition blogs, we explore the risks and considerations when displaying fabric outside of a case.

Read more stories on

Back to top