Ralph Applebaum Associates

Culloden Battlefield and Visitors Centre is the gateway to one of the most iconic sites in Scotland. It is located on Culloden Moor, scene of the last pitched battle in Britain. Within a new building by Gareth Hoskins Architects, RAA’s interpretive exhibition introduces visitors to the events leading to the Battle of Culloden and the personages involved.

The exhibition’s dual interpretation, reflecting both the government and the Jacobite sides of the battle, enables visitors to follow each story independently, or in tandem. It explains how in 1746 Jacobite supporters, seeking to restore the Stuart monarchy to the British thrones, gathered to fight the Duke of Cumberland’s government troops. In less than an hour, around 1,600 men were slain—1,500 of them Jacobites.

In the Night March, an intense audio program, the visitor has a sense of the emotions felt and actions taken in an ambush; in the large-scale Immersion Theatre, 360-degree projections place visitors in the midst of the raging battle. At character stations, the people who took part are vividly portrayed through their own words.

In addition to the exhibition design, RAA conceived the award-winning interpretive system known as the Battlefield Guide, a GPS-enabled handheld device which delivers map-based archaeological information and personal accounts to visitors as they walk the historic field.

RAA also designed the National Trust for Scotland’s battlefield wayfinding, branding, and logo, the exhibition-related guidebook, and accompanying leaflets produced in eight languages.