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Home , Culture of Scotland, John Barbour (poet), John Pettie, Ken Currie, Scottish Renaissance, Welsh literature

This work is a result of the project titled „Increasing ELT Effectiveness” accepted by Foundation for the Development of the Education System (FRSE) Project number: 2014-1-PL01-KA101-000712

 Scotland is a country that is part of the and covers the northern third of the island of . It shares a border with to the south, and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the south-west. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.

SCOTTISH MUSIC

 Scottish music is a significant aspect of the nation's culture, with both traditional and modern influences. A famous traditional Scottish instrument is the Great Highland Bagpipe, a wind instrument consisting of three drones and a melody pipe (called the chanter), which are fed continuously by a reservoir of air in a bag. Bagpipe bands, featuring bagpipes and various types of drums, and showcasing Scottish music styles while creating new ones, have spread throughout the world. The clàrsach (harp), fiddle and accordion are also traditional Scottish instruments, the latter two heavily featured in bands. Today, there are many successful Scottish bands and individual artists in varying styles including Annie Lennox, Amy Macdonald, Runrig, Boards of Canada, Cocteau Twins, Deacon Blue, Franz Ferdinand, Susan Boyle, Emeli Sandé, Texas, The View, The Fratellis, Twin Atlantic and Biffy Clyro. Other Scottish musicians include Shirley Manson, Paolo Nutini and Calvin Harris.

 Scotland has a literary heritage dating back to the early Middle Ages. The earliest extant literature composed in what is now Scotland was in Brythonic speech in the 6th century, but is preserved as part of . Later medieval literature included works in Latin, Gaelic, and French. The first surviving major text in Early Scots is the 14th-century 's epic Brus, focusing on the life of Robert I, and was soon followed by a series of vernacular romances and prose works. In the 16th century the crown's patronage helped the development of Scots drama and , but the accession of James VI to the English throne removed a major centre of literary patronage and Scots was sidelined as a literary language.Interest in Scots literature was revived in the 18th century by figures including , whose Cycle made him the first Scottish poet to gain an international reputation and was a major influence on the European Enlightenment. It was also a major influence on , whom many consider the , and , whose Waverley Novels did much to define Scottish identity in the 19th century. Towards the end of the a number of Scottish-born authors achieved international reputations as writers in English, including , , J. M. Barrie and George MacDonald. In the 20th century the Scottish saw a surge of literary activity and attempts to reclaim the as a medium for serious literature. Members of the movement were followed by a new generation of post- war including , who would be appointed the first Scots by the inaugural in 2004. From the 1980s Scottish literature enjoyed another major revival, particularly associated with a group of writers including . Scottish poets who emerged in the same period included Carol Ann Duffy, who, in May 2009, was the first Scot named UK .

SCOTTISH ART

 Art in Scotland cannot readily be defined with the aid of a series of identifiable and distinct movements, in the way that can be found elsewhere in art history, particularly within modern art of the twentieth century. It is possible, however, to identify clusters of artists within and across periods in history, whose like-minded concerns or common style allow them to be usefully grouped together.  The schools of art , which developed in and in the nineteenth century, provided the first centres of activity for the development of identifiable movements or groups in Scottish art. At Edinburgh’s Trustees’ Academy in the years around 1850, under the directorship of Robert Scott Lauder, the painters George Paul Chalmers, William McTaggart, John Pettie and William Quiller Orchardson showed a particular talent for colour and line combined with an inventive approach to subject-matter which marked them out as a distinct product of a newly flourishing Scottish scene.  Later in the century a group of young artists influenced by the realist painting of continental artists such as Bastien-Lepage, began to exhibit in Glasgow in the 1880s works which made clear their concern for an art more in touch with everyday reality. E. A. Walton’s A Daydream and James Guthrie’s A Hind’s Daughter typifies the Glasgow Boys (as they came to be known) preoccupation with painting ordinary life in an honest and unaffected manner. At the same time, a group of younger Glasgow-based artists, led by the designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh, developed their own response to the international movement, producing symbolist paintings and applied art in the Glasgow Style. By the 1920s Cadell and Hunter were painting in a similar vibrant manner, and the four’s work was subsequently brought together in exhibitions. Although the Colourist’s subject matter, predominantly still life and landscape, remained traditional, their progressive attitude places them at the forefront of modern Scottish painting.  The application of ’s colouring and abstraction to traditional subject matter prevailed in Scottish art for much of the first half of the 20th century. This was especially so in Edinburgh, where the intuitive painterly talents of William Gillies, John Maxwell, Anne Redpath and William MacTaggart gave rise to the so-called Edinburgh School.  Most recently, in the 1980s, the international revival of interest in ambitious figure painting found a centre in the prodigious talents of Steven Campbell, Stephen Conroy, Peter Howson, Ken Currie and Adrian Wiszniewski. Their close association with of Art, where all had been students, and their forceful imagery led them to be dubbed the New Glasgow Boys.

 In addition, there are numerous figures in Scottish art whose broader interests variously attach them to international movements. The 18th-century Lanark- born Gavin Hamilton’s vast history paintings, produced in Rome, were celebrated during his lifetime as a principal expression of neo-classicism. In more recent times, the artist flirted with in a series of paintings he produced in the early 1910s, while in the 1950s the -born abstract painter William Gear became a member of the progressive and urbane CoBrA movement (which was centred on Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam). Each is symptomatic that art in Scotland has not developed in isolation, but has contributed to and has benefitted from a wider artistic evolution.

 Scottish cuisine is the specific set of cooking traditions, practices and cuisines associated with Scotland. It has distinctive attributes and recipes of its own, but shares much with wider British and European cuisine as a result of local and foreign influences, both ancient and modern. Traditional Scottish dishes exist alongside international foodstuffs brought about by migration.  Scotland's natural larder of game, dairy products, fish, fruit, and vegetables is the chief factor in traditional Scots cooking, with a high reliance on simplicity and a lack of spices from abroad, as these were historically rare and expensive.

SCOTTISH ARCHITECTURE

 Scotland’s architectural landscape is perhaps best described as a historical timeline charting the country’s history through design; from medieval crofts and castles, to Victorian tenements and cutting edge, contemporary buildings and structures.  This rich legacy defines Scotland as a nation of creativity and innovation, where each city has its own landmarks, history and identity but are all underpinned by heritage, tradition, and modernism.  On this episode of The World from Above the journey extends coast to coast across Scotland and touches on some of Scotland's most prominent architectural landmarks, including Dalmeny House, Forth Bridge, Falkirk Wheel and Clyde Auditorium.

SPORTS OF SCOTLAND

 Sport plays a central role in Scottish culture. The temperate, oceanic climate has played a key part in the evolution of , with all-weather sports like association football, rugby union and dominating the national sporting consciousness. However, many other sports are played in the country, with popularity varying between sports and between regions.  Scotland has its own sporting competitions and governing bodies, such as the Camanachd Association, the Scottish Rugby Union, Scottish Rugby League. The country has independent representation at many international sporting events, for example the, Rugby League World Cup and the, as well as the Commonwealth Games; although not the .  Scots, and Scottish emigrants, have made several key contributions to the history of sport, with important innovations and developments in: golf, , football, rugby union , , cycling, basketball, and water polo.  Highland games, the largest and most widespread multi-sport festivals of the 19th century, are claimed to have influenced Baron Pierre de Coubertin and Dr William Milligan Sloane of Princeton when he was planning the revival of the Olympic Games. De Coubertin and Milligan, who was researching his book on Napoleon at the time, saw a display of Highland games at the Paris Exhibition of 1889.

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Made by Martyna Opalińska class 2 c