The Great Polish Map of Scotland, also known as the Mapa Scotland, is a large three-dimensional, scale model of Scotland, with lakes, mountains and sea, sculpted in concrete and located in the grounds of the Barony Castle Hotel, outside the village of Eddleston near Peebles. Built between 1974 and 1979, to a scale of 1:10,000, it is possibly the largest terrain relief model in the world.
The large concrete map was the idea of Krakow-born war veteran Jan Tomasik, a sergeant in the 1st Armoured Division, who during the Second World War was stationed in Galashiels, about 22 km from the castle. Like many Polish soldiers, Tomasik refused to return to Poland after the war and the Communist take-over, fearing his personal freedom would be curtailed. He married a Scottish nurse who had treated him and settled in Scotland. He bought the hotel at Black Barony in 1968 and became a successful hotelier in Edinburgh.
© Amusing Planet, 2015.
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