Tomb of the king

For the first time since the Reformation people are able to see how Robert The Bruces tomb looked.

Organised to mark the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn, the exhibition also reunites surviving fragments from the lost tomb for the first time since their discovery almost 200 years ago.

Robert the Bruce was King of Scotland from 1306 until his death in 1329, leading Scotland to victory in the Scottish Wars of Independence.

‘The Bruce’ was buried in the choir of Dunfermline Abbey and his grave marked by an impressive gilded white marble tomb imported from Paris.

The tomb was lost during the Reformation, but a grave and fragments of carved and gilded stone, believed to be from the vanished tomb, were found in 1818 and later given to The Hunterian and National Museums of Scotland.

A further fragment has recently been found in the collections at Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott.

The identification of these remains and design of the royal tomb have long been subject of debate but to mark the 1314 anniversary, a consortium of Scottish heritage bodies, including The Hunterian, has been working to reconstruct the lost tomb.

The Lost Tomb of Robert the Bruce explores the process of archaeological reconstruction and showcases the use of 3D digital modelling developed in Scotland to create a detailed visualisation of the tomb architecture in its original setting.

Created by a team of 3D visualisation experts from the Digital Design Studio at the Glasgow School of Art it consists of an animated film showing the position of the remaining fragments and a 3D flythrough of the reconstructed tomb.

The Lost Tomb of Robert the Bruce, runs until Sunday, January 4, and admission is free, open Tuesday–Saturday from 10am–5pm and Sunday from 11am–4pm.