Inverness Castle: Look inside as £36m revamp gathers pace at Highland landmark

The £36m transformation of Inverness Castle is making progress with aims to make it a world class tourism attraction.

The Inverness Castle Experience is set to bring Scottish history to life when it opens in summer 2025 following a huge refurbishment, with construction scheduled to be completed by December.

Work is set to start soon on installing fittings, fixtures and lighting to create an immersive experience for visitors.

While many elements within the former courthouse building are being crafted bespoke, others are being carefully restored with a modern twist.

Dating back to 1847, the much loved Rose Window was a popular sight in Inverness for many years and is now being revamped as part of the project.

The castle's iconic rose window — The castle’s iconic rose window STV News

The project is being overseen by designers Mather & Co, responsible for projects such as Downton Abbey: The Experience and the R&A World Golf Museum at St Andrews.

Chief executive Chris Mather said: “We are going to rear light all the stained glass panels in the Rose Window.

“At the same time, we are going to front project and map on all the stone work and the glass, so that will start to detail and bring all the stained glass to life.

“There will be a thousand bottles in the Rose Window room and they will all start to come to life, so the source of it is the Rose Window.

“Then the whole thing will become an immersive experience, with holograms appearing in bottles.”

The castle is scheduled to open to the public in summer 2025 STV News

More than 100 Highland stories, myths and legends will be showcased at the castle.

Directors from fit-out contractors The Work Haus Projects are already used to sprinkling a little magic on projects like this.

Jim Ibbetson said: “We did a big flagship store for Harry Potter and Warner Brothers in New York and we went over there – it was over three floors, with set works and sculpture.

“A lot of the stuff we are working on here we have had to develop and it’s one of the most exciting projects we have ever worked on.”

Joe Fisher added: “Each room is totally unique and different in every way. It is bringing audio visual projection onto certain surfaces, with different types of lighting and sprinkling a bit of fairy dust on it all.”