Dramatic Highland landscapes, heroic histories, tartan and bagpipes are among the defining images of Scotland for many people around the world.



From the Romantic movement of the 18th and early 19th centuries to Queen Victoria’s Highland idyll at Balmoral, Wild and Majestic considers the origins of these ideas and explores how romantic interpretations of the cultural traditions of the Scottish Highlands and Islands became enduring symbols of wider Scottish identity.



This book accompanied a landmark exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland in 2019. It charts Scotland’s journey into the global imagination and invites you to think again about the meaning and relevance of ideas that continue to define Scotland today.