New mural marks classic tale at Burns museum

A MURAL inspired by Tam o’ Shanter has been unveiled at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum.

The 17-metre long (56ft) piece tells the tale of one of Burns’s longest poems, about a man who stays too long at a public house and witnesses a disturbing vision of witches and warlocks at a haunted kirk while he is riding home on his horse Meg.

Edinburgh-based artist Chris Rutterford created the exhibition at the centre in Alloway, Ayrshire, in the style of a graphic novel and used real people for inspiration. It is made up of a series of 7ft boards depicting more than 60 life-sized characters, including Tam and Meg.

The museum, where the original manuscript of Tam o’ Shanter is on display, combines the cottage where the poet was born and the Burns Monument, and incorporates the sites of Tam’s ghostly encounters at the Auld Kirk and Brig o’ Doon. Tam o’ Shanter was first published in 1791.

Mr Rutterford said: “The picture is a dream commission – it’s great to have the space to clothe Burns’s masterpiece in an epic widescreen format.”