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Events
Main Conference
Photographic Exhibition
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ASSEMBLY ROOMS54 George Street Edinburgh EH2 2LR
Assembly Rooms website
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The main conference venue will be the elegant 18th century Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh’s New Town. With its spectacular chandeliers and decorative plasterwork, the Assembly Rooms are admired by all that enter its doors.
The foundation stone of the Assembly Rooms was laid in 1783, marking the beginning of an ambitious project to provide the aristocracy with a new establishment in the New Town.
Since opening in 1787, the Assembly Rooms have played host to many distinguished guests, such as Sir Walter Scott, King George IV and Charles Dickens. The first Edinburgh Music Festival was held in the Music Hall, which will be the main conference room.
1879 saw the first of many visits by Gladstone, and more recently Seamus Heaney, Norman McCaig and J.K. Rowling have all read excerpts from their best selling books. Prime Ministers and Presidents attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 1997 and in 1999 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was guest of honour at a Regimental Dinner.
The venue also hosts major annual events such as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Revels at Hogmanay, Fiddle Festival, Christies Auction and CAMRA Real Ale Festival.
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Event
Opening Dinner Monday 15th September 2008
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OUR DYNAMIC EARTHHolyrood Road Edinburgh EH8 8AS
Our Dynamic Earth website
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The opening dinner will be held in Our Dynamic Earth, a permanent tourist attraction in the heart of Edinburgh which offers visitors a journey of discovery exploring the different environments in, around and across our planet.
It is situated near the foot of the historic Royal Mile, next to Holyrood Palace and opposite the new Scottish Parliament.
Before dinner there will be a pre-dinner reception in the Earthscape Galleries where guests can marvel at a real iceberg, and experience the exotic in the tropical rainforest.
Dinner will be served on the Stratosphere, which hosts the magnificent canopy structure and glass walls offering stunning views of Salisbury Crags.
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Event
Reception Tuesday 16th September 2008
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THE NATIONAL GALLERIES OF SCOTLANDThe Mound Edinburgh EH2 2EL
The National Galleries of Scotland website
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The National Gallery of Scotland, the flagship building of the National Galleries of Scotland, is in the very centre of Edinburgh, between Princes Street and the Royal Mile. The view up to Edinburgh Castle is unbeatable. The National Gallery is home to Scotland’s greatest collection of European Art from Renaissance to Post-Impressionism, including masterpieces by Titian, Raphael, Rembrandt, Monet and Van Gogh.
This is a particularly special venue for ESU Scotland as we run an annual Creative Writing Competition with the National Galleries of Scotland and the Scottish Poetry Library, where entrants are required to produce a piece based on one of the works in the National Galleries’ collection.
During the reception guests will have the opportunity to enjoy a private view of the gallery’s treasured collection whilst enjoying champagne and canapés in wonderful surroundings. The expert Senior Curator will be present to welcome delegates and give a short talk about the collection. Hearing the interesting stories of the history of the gallery and fascinating insights into some of the masterpieces really does bring the art alive.
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Event
Reception Wednesday 17th September 2008
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MANSFIELD TRAQUAIR CENTRE15 Mansfield Place Edinburgh EH3 6BB
Mansfield Traquair Centre website
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The Mansfield Traquair Centre is a former Catholic Apostolic Church located on the edge of Edinburgh’s historic New Town. The building was designed by the prominent nineteenth-century architect Sir Robert Rowand Anderson and completed in 1885.
The most outstanding feature of the church is the vast scheme of mural decoration painted by Scotland’s leading Arts and Crafts artist Phoebe Anna Traquair in the 1890s.
The Italianate Renaissance values of the decoration were immediately recognised by Traquair’s contemporaries. In 1898 the London art journal The Studio, referring to its ‘freshness of art’s springtide’, compared it to the Riccardi Chapel in Florence and the paintings of Gentile da Fabriano. The decoration was ‘so rich and so little anticipated ... the whole [South] Chapel scintillates and glows like a jewelled crown’.
During the reception guests will have a rare opportunity to enjoy the beautiful decoration of this building. Guides from the Mansfield Traquair Trust will be present to explain and discuss the stunning imagery of Edinburgh’s “Sistine Chapel”.
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Event
Closing Dinner Thursday 18th September 2008
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MURRAYFIELD STADIUMMurrayfield Edinburgh EH12 5PJ
Murrayfield Stadium website
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On the final evening, we will hold a farewell ceilidh and dinner at Murrayfield Stadium, the home of Scottish rugby for the last 100 years and one of the top stadia in Europe.
The evening will kick off as guests are piped to a pre-dinner drinks reception on the track beside the world famous pitch, which has seen such major events as the RBS Six Nations and sell-out concert tours.
After dinner, guests will have the opportunity to practise their Scottish country dancing as a ceilidh band plays traditional Scottish reels.
It should be an outstanding evening!
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