(14 Nov 2019) LEAD IN: Myths and legends are turning Edinburgh's oldest building into a jewel box of dazzling lights and colours.
It's all part of the Castle of Light exhibition which illustrates the 11th century castle's strategic importance throughout history.
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Edinburgh Castle, the former home of Scottish royalty built on an extinct volcano, is transformed into the Castle of Light.
Stories of ancient heroes, myths and legends are projected on the castle walls to the sound of Scottish music.
Alastair Young, the director of Warpro which is specialist audio visual company involved in creating the Castle of Light, says the light exhibition took six months to complete and his creative team worked together with Historic Environment Scotland, a public body tasked with promoting Scotland's history.
"The whole thing is kind of inspired by the stories of Edinburgh Castle, because it is obviously a historic building. It has got, I don't know, a thousand years of history. There is a military pass, there is a whole of myth and legend and we have tried to put that together and just weave a few stories into that, which is why you have got a dragon in the rocks, because there is this story of the dragon that sort of flew around Edinburgh and then became part of the rocks of Edinburgh" says Young.
The giant dragon changes colours while it sleeps on one of the castle's inner walls, and occasionally wakes up to spew fire.
Young says the dragon is based on a myth of a dragon that flew around Edinburgh and terrorised the local community by eating their livestock, and it ate so much that it needed to sleep.
When it finally dozed off it never woke up and it believed by some that the creature still sleeps underneath the city.
The statues of Robert the Bruce and William Wallace guard the entrance to Edinburgh castle and these are brought to life in the light display.
"There is also there is a lot of time-lapse footage of basically Scottish landmarks etc, etc projected on the castle, because you know the castle is one of Scotland's great landmarks", explains Young.
Rex Rampant, which is the lion on Scotland's coat of arms comes to life in the exhibition and Young says the team had fun creating its cheeky character.
"He is a bit of a cheeky character and he is jumping about the walls. It's the first night for me as well as for the public so it is too early to say which is my favourite part," Young says.
A projection of a Scottish queen welcomes guests to the castle before she dissolves into a colourful display of lights and dancing subjects.
"I think she is just the queen of the castle, because every castle needs a queen and I think she comes alive at the very top of the castle in Crown square, which is effectively you know she is giving her permission for everyone, for her subjects, to have a party."
Margaret's chapel was built in the 12th Century and is one of Edinburgh's oldest buildings. The building first turns into a jewel box before the stained glass windows from inside the chapel are projected onto the outside of the building.
Young says around 20,000 tickets for the Castle of Light event have been sold so far. It opens to the public on 14 November and will run for six weeks.
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