Putting our historic cinemas in the picture

Published on Tuesday 31 March 2009 23:10

THE architectural legacy of Scotland's historic cinemas has been celebrated in a new booklet.

Spotlight on Scotland's Cinemas was launched yesterday with the help of Mike Russell, the culture minister, who worked as a film projectionist in the Uists and Barra in the late 1970s.

The launch coincided with the 60th anniversary of Edinburgh's iconic Cameo cinema. During a video message shown on its big screen, Mr Russell said: "Over the years, many of these buildings have had to adapt as they could no longer be sustained as cinemas, but the variety of building styles is as wide-ranging as the films they showed."

Other cinemas featured include the Hippodrome, Bo'ness; Campbeltown Picture House; Hillhead Picture Salon, Glasgow, and the Playhouse, Perth. The booklet is available free at www.historic-scotland.gov.uk.