WESTMINSTER abbey and Historic Environment Scotland (HES) have been rehearsing the transport and placement of the Stone of Destiny for the King’s coronation with an “exact” 3D printed replica.
The Stone of Destiny is set to be moved from Edinburgh Castle in a bespoke transportation box to prevent the roughly 400 million-year-old stone from getting damaged.
It will then be escorted down to London by the police and the army and carefully placed under the chair King Charles will be crowned on in May.
READ MORE: Stone of Destiny: New symbols found ahead of Charles's coronation
HES – who care for the stone – have said they are confident it will be safe, and have even sent a 3D printed replica of the stone to Westminster Abbey so they can rehearse placing it safely.
Rachael Dickson, HES regional collections manager, said: “We have undertaken the 3D scanning of the stone which has allowed us to make this one-to-one replica of the stone and in collaboration with Westminster Abbey, a one-to-one replica of the coronation chair.
“This allows us to rehearse the careful movement and operation of marrying the chair and the stone back together for the coronation of Charles.
"This also ensured that both the stone and the 700-year-old coronation chair are fully protected.”
Alba party leader Alex Salmond previously called for the First Minister – now Humza Yousaf – to refuse to allow the Stone of Destiny to be returned to England for the King’s coronation.
The former first minister’s party also demanded that 100 Scots guard the stone as it travels to prevent it from being stolen.
In 1296 the then king of England, Edward I, had the stone – used in the inauguration of Scottish kings for centuries – removed from Scotland. It was then built into a new throne at Westminster Abbey in London.
It was only returned to Scotland on St Andrew’s Day in November 1996.
READ MORE: SNP maintain lead in polls over Scottish Labour in Holyrood
The stone has been damaged in transport before.
In 1950, four Scottish students famously took back the stone from Westminster Abbey in London and damaged it in transit. It was found some three months later, 500 miles away, at the high altar of Arbroath Abbey.
The next year, in 1951, it was repaired and reinstalled. The damage is still visible on the stone, however.
A new digital 3D model of the stone was created by HES ahead of the coronation, allowing it to be viewed from different perspectives and in higher detail than ever before.
This revealed previously unrecorded markings on the stone’s surface as well as many tooling marks evident from the original working of the stone.
Areas of wear and tear can now also be seen more clearly, as well as further details of the 1951 repair.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel