Scottish Culture

An Introduction To Scottish Culture

Creativity and celebration on an international scale.

"I am a citizen of the world." David Hume, 1764.

Flowering Scotland

Scotland is one of the most beautiful countries on Earth, but its greatest minds have always been outward looking. To the deeply inquisitive Scots mind, beauty itself is not the whole truth. The quest to understand the physical world has produced some of the greatest innovators in the fields of science, medicine and engineering. And the quest to understand human nature has produced some of the world's greatest writers and philosophers.

Couple this with a culture that at the everyday level espouses the virtues of hospitality and fair-mindedness, admires precision in speech and deed, enjoys a good tale and a 'bon mot' and – when the budget fits and the circumstances are appropriate – revels in a cracking party, then one begins to appreciate the roots of the current flowering of creativity and celebration in Scotland.

A Festival nation

The establishment of the Edinburgh International Festival in 1947 was a landmark in the nation's post-war artistic fortunes. Its overwhelming success with the international arts community's focus on Scotland has led, in time, to Edinburgh itself now hosting nine major international festivals a year and being known as the Festival City. And this celebratory spirit of international as well as home-grown excellence is today echoed not only in Scotland's second great city, Glasgow, but far and wide from the Borders to the Highlands and Islands.

Find out more about what's going on and when here.

Alive and kicking

Celebration, of course, is the icing on the cake. But it inspires the creative spirit. Today in Scotland this spirit is very much alive and kicking in the fields of architecture and design, literature, art and sculpture, music, film and the brave, new, largely unexplored world of digital possibilities. Last but not least, Scottish cuisine, with a superlative natural larder to inspire its leading lights, is gaining a first-class reputation for originality and finesse. Scotland today enjoys a climate of inspiration that both energises the varied indigenous talent and attracts like-minded spirits from overseas. It is, without question, an inspirational country in which to live and work.

Find out what's happening on the Arts scene here.

A great place to visit

All this cultural activity against the backdrop of Scotland's dynamic cities and spectacular landscape – that also offer some of the world's most exciting sporting opportunities – makes Scotland a fantastic place to visit. Scotland's people and Scotland's creative spirit have added to the 'given' of its natural beauty to make it a world-class tourist destination which in turn, like a virtuous circle, contributes massively to the country's economy. As a friend of Scotland, not only will you always be welcome but – if you haven't been for a while – you might be surprised at the number of changes and the sheer amount on offer. Hasten back and stay awhile.

Find out what to see and do in Scotland here.