Where you can see new 'realistic' 3D model of Robert the Bruce's head - and how it was created

A new 3D model of Robert the Bruce - created from a cast of the skull - is going on show to the public for the first time,

To mark the 750th anniversary of his birth, the head will be displayed at Dunfermline Abbey. Historic Environment Scotland said the 3D reconstruction is the most realistic likeness of Robert the Bruce to be produced to date.

It was created as part of a collaboration between the University of Glasgow and Liverpool John Moores University Face Lab.

The model was produced using a combination of historical research and scientific analysis with advances in facial reconstruction techniques.

The team used a 3D laser scanner to scan the cast of Robert the Bruce’s skull held at Hunterian Museum, which allowed the team to accurately establish the muscle formation from the positions of the skull bones.

Using CGI technology, realistically textured skin was then layered over the muscle structure. The nose is the least accurate feature of this facial depiction due to the bone deterioration.

Historians have long debated whether Robert the Bruce suffered from leprosy. The team created two versions of the digital reconstruction, one without leprosy and one with a mild representation of leprosy.

Dr Martin MacGregor, senior lecturer in history at University of Glasgow, said: “In a lifetime of only 55 years, Robert Bruce achieved the impossible and restored peace and freedom to a war-torn and colonised kingdom.

“Contemporary sources tell us much about his remarkable life, but virtually nothing about his appearance. This is what persuaded a team of historians, museum curators, geneticists, forensic scientists and medical artists to combine to create a new 3D depiction of the head of the hero-king, based upon the skull-cast taken from a skeleton in a tomb discovered within the ruins of Dunfermline Abbey in 1818.

“The head is dressed in a helmet surmounted by a crown, as worn by Bruce at his most famous victory, the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

“Now, 750 years after his birth in 1274, it is fitting that Dunfermline Abbey, where Robert Bruce was buried in 1329, should host an exhibition which brings us face-to-face with Scotland’s greatest monarch.”