Glamor of the Granite City: Aberdeen’s regeneration has brought new life and an artistic buzz to the city
What King Charles would think about it is anyone’s guess, although he must be quite used to unusual royal images by now.
On a wall in a passageway near the lively bars of Belmont Street and the Aberdeen Art Gallery (filled with works by the likes of Monet, Renoir and Reynolds), a spray-painted image shows a nude monarch striding along wearing a crown as he performs a ceremonial mace and briefcase.
Aberdon residents hardly look at it. After all, around the corner is another surreal public work of two police officers riding ostriches.
Meanwhile, a Primark bag depicts a hooded man with tattoos petting a Chihuahua, and two mysterious masked women in cocktail dresses stand opposite an office building.
Aberdeen – long known as the Granite City for the predominance of local stone – is getting lighter. But what on earth is happening?
Historical: ‘Aberdeen – long known as the Granite City due to the predominance of local stone – is becoming lighter,’ writes Tom Chesshyre
A few years ago, in 2017, it hosted an annual street art festival, with striking new murals by well-known artists every year (next time is June 6 to 9).
The impact of this is beginning to be seen, as is the recent £28 million refurbishment of the previously neglected Union Terrace Gardens.
The latter comes complete with an illuminated Hollywood-style sign reading ‘Aberdeen’, plus banks of beautiful flower beds.
With a long tradition as a place where North Sea oil workers go for R&R, the Granite City is now coming into its own, attracting tourists from Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Above, an illuminated ‘Hollywood style’ sign in Union Terrace Gardens, Aberdeen
The Aberdeen Art Gallery is full of works by the likes of Monet, Renoir and Reynolds, Tom reveals
The streets surrounding Union Terrace feel like the center of things, with bustling cafes and bistros. An impressive statue of Scottish rebel William Wallace overlooks the garden, next to another of Prince Albert. Also nearby is the imposing Edwardian His Majesty’s Theatre.
Across the street is the Aberdeen Art Gallery, with a jumble of modern works, old master photographs and local artists such as James McBey (1883-1959). His striking portraits, including one of a lifeboat hero from 1936, are reason enough to go.
Aberdeen, on the northeast coast of Scotland, is the port city between the rivers Dee and Don.
Take a stroll past the granite-clad residential blocks to Old Aberdeen, with its cobbled streets, the impressive square at King’s College (dating from 1495) and St Machar’s Cathedral, where Wallace’s left arm was reputedly buried after his execution in 1305.
Aberdeen is located on the northeast coast of Scotland. Above, the town’s stretch of beach – you can see dolphins jumping in the wake of ferries to Orkney and Shetland
Tom recommends that when visiting Aberdeen you should visit the famous King’s College Square, which dates back to 1495.
From there it’s a walk to the Don and then, via a beach, to the Dee, where you can watch dolphins jumping in the wake of the ferries to Orkney and Shetland.
You will also find the pretty old fishing village of Footdee here, plus a fantastic fish restaurant: The Silver Darling (excellent sea bass when I went), which was a haunt of Sir Alex Ferguson when he was manager of Aberdeen FC.
The real football hero here, however, is Scotland and Manchester United’s Denis Law. His statue at City Hall is not that far from the spray-painted, clothesless king. Football king in the place of honor.
