Scottish Parliament

In front of you is one of the most debated buildings in recent European architecture. To understand it you have to go back to 1707, when the Act of Union merged the parliaments of Scotland and England and the Scottish one stopped meeting. Nearly three centuries later, in the 1997 referendum, Scots voted to bring it back.

'The Scottish Parliament, adjourned on the 25th day of March 1707, is hereby reconvened.' Winnie Ewing, 12 May 1999.

1A Catalan at Holyrood

The competition was won by Enric Miralles, a Barcelona architect, with his practice EMBT and the Scottish firm RMJM. Miralles wanted a building that 'grew out of the land': he drew on the landscape of Arthur's Seat, on upturned boats and on leaves. He never saw it finished, dying in July 2000. That same year Donald Dewar, Scotland's first First Minister and the project's driving force, also died.

The project was controversial. Early estimates spoke of a few tens of millions of pounds, and the final cost came to around £414 million, prompting a public inquiry. Even so, the building opened in October 2004 and the following year won the Stirling Prize, the most prestigious award in British architecture.

2What to look out for

• The Canongate Wall: stones from all over Scotland carved with quotations from Scottish writers.
• The office windows, with timber frames that look like a drawn curtain.
• Salisbury Crags behind: the cliffs that inspired the building's lines.