Doors Open Days is an annual festival celebrating the rich architecture of Scotland. This year the organizers of the festival, like many others, have found themselves struggling with the pandemic and how to still hold a festival while maintaining health and safety precautions. The solution: Doors Open Days 2020 is a fully digital festival, allowing participants from around the world to enjoy.
The festival is coordinated by the Scottish Civic Trust as part of European Heritage Days. Events kick off on Thursday, 3rd September with a trip to John O’Groats mill, the last grain mill to be built in Scotland. Other events for the month include a climb to the top of Glasgow’s Finnieston Crane, a trip to the Iron Age at Dumfries and Galloway’s Whithorn Roundhouse and a chance to uncover the secrets behind Fife’s environmentally friendly Earthship. A schedule is available online.
Speaking of the decision to go virtual, Director of the Scottish Civic Trust, Susan O’Connor said:
We’re delighted to encourage our venues to become more digital this year through Doors Open Days – it’s the best way to reach a broader range of people with Scotland’s unique heritage, both at home and across the world. In particular, we’re looking forward to helping our beautiful buildings and places become more accessible to those who wouldn’t normally be able to take part in Doors Open Days for physical or cultural reasons. Making the built environment easier for everyone to enjoy is a core part of what we do.
Digital resources and events – such as Facebook Live guided tours, webinars, virtual exhibitions, audio trails and more – will be released each weekend in September on doorsopendays.org.uk.
