Andrew Redmond Barr

IT’S my third and final week as artist in residence here at the Schotse Huizen (Scottish houses) in the historic Dutch port of Veere. In the first two parts of this diary, I wrote about how this town became the Kingdom of Scotland’s main trading gateway to Europe over many centuries.

IT’S now my second week here as artist in residence at the Schotse Huizen, a local museum occupying two old Scottish merchants’ houses on the waterfront in Veere.

In the first of a three-part series, Veere's artist in residence Andrew Redmond Barr reflects on deep-rooted Scottish links with the Netherlands

SCOTLAND is one of the oldest nations in Europe. Like all nations, it is a product of cultural imagination, built upon centuries of history, art, literature and shared experience, as well as a wealth of international connections and exchanges with other cultures.

SCOTLAND today is in a moment of generational shift, and a moment of re-evaluation of our position within the Union. For those of us in our twenties, who grew up with the new Scottish Parliament as a functioning part of national life, the idea that Scotland should govern at least some of its own affairs through its own legislature seems perfectly ordinary and reasonable.

IT might sound strange to say it now, but at the beginning of the year many of us hoped the Declaration of Arbroath’s 700th anniversary would be one of the most memorable events of 2020.

THE Atlas of Scotland is an ambitious new project to create the first major Scottish atlas for more than 100 years.

IN the south-west corner of Catalonia lies the small but ancient city of Tortosa, a fortified town backed by a striking line of mountains to the west which marks the border between Catalonia and the rest of Spain. The Ebre River flows through the heart of the city, and gives the wider region its name, Terres de l’Ebre.