Doors Open Days celebrates 20 years of historic Scottish buildings with packed 2010 programme

Launched as a chance for the public to see some of Glasgow’s best undiscovered historic buildings during the city’s spell as European City of Culture in 1990, Doors Open Days is thriving 20 years on.

“The success was incredible back then, it really captured peoples’ imaginations,” says Abigail Daly, who will enjoy her fifth year co-ordinating the campaign when it returns every weekend this month.

“That really started it all going, and I think other areas saw the popularity of it and the fantastic way it can highlight buildings and organisations and spaces.”

These days a 6,000-strong army of volunteers work tirelessly across Scotland to open up some of the most iconic sites in the land.

“The more active communities are from all over Scotland, which is really wonderful,” says Daly.

“Some areas choose to focus their event on a single theme, so that draws out new people who say ‘oh yes, I’ve got a building that I could open up as part of that.’ Some are very curated, with people thinking deeply about what their programme will be based on.

“Others choose a specific town or village, especially in the rural areas because it means people don’t have to trek all over the countryside. They can just go to one area and spend a day going around lots of different buildings – I think that works really nicely.”

With more than 1,000 events to choose from, there are plenty of highlights to be found.

“The Emergency Centre in Inverness sounds wonderful and mysterious and very exciting,” confides Daly.

“It’s a sort of underground bunker that was designed in 1941 to hide some of the UK’s planning for nuclear attacks, so it’s quite a place. The RAF plotted enemy movements beneath this unassuming hillside. It’s actually used by the council now, so if there’s an emergency in the area it will come into play, which adds to the interest.”

At Kirkcaldy Coptic Orthodox Church, in Fife, a revelatory experience awaits behind the holy doors.

“What’s happened is a rather traditional parish church has converted into an orthodox one, so on the outside it’s quite grey and austere and serious, but inside it has got lots of icons, gold and beautiful embellishments, and the community are going to be serving Egyptian cuisine,” explains Daly.

“I think that’s lovely – it’s such a surprise, and will attract so many people who probably wouldn’t go in because they would see the church as being something unusual, somewhere they wouldn’t know how to behave.

“Doors Open Days is really good for that – it gives people the opportunity to break down some of those assumptions and barriers.”