Is it a star? Is it a thistle? No, it's Scotland's new welcome sign

IT IS a vast, spiralling star whose swirling arcs of light will leave you in no doubt that you are now in Scotland.

A jewel-encrusted landscape sculpture known as the Star of Caledonia will straddle the Border with England, it was announced yesterday.

The bold vision by structural designer Cecil Balmond was declared the winner of the Gretna Landmark Border Crossing initiative, which it is hoped will clearly mark the point where the two nations meet.

The giant star, featuring rotating spirals glistening in the night sky, will measure 180ft high by 131ft wide. It was hailed by competition judges as an idea that acknowledged Scotland's scientific heritage.

Sri Lankan-born Balmond will now develop the design throughout the summer with renowned landscape artist Charles Jencks, before a planning application is submitted.

He saw off competition from American artist Ned Kahn and London-based architect Chris Wilkinson to win the right to create the artwork.

Balmond's work will sit atop a large-scale landform designed by Jencks.

Andrew Dixon, chief executive of Creative Scotland and a member of the eight-strong judging panel, said: "Cecil Balmond's outline proposal will combine artistic vision and engineering to produce a landmark that is rooted in Scotland's scientific contribution to the world.

"The project will provide millions of future visitors with an iconic welcome and an ever changing contemporary symbol of a confident, creative Scotland."

Balmond, whose works include the Arcelor Mittal Orbit tower, the UK's largest public art sculpture, created for the 2012 London Olympics, said the design for the Star of Caledonia aimed to capture the "powerful energy, scientific heritage, and magnetic pull of Scotland", in particular the work of James Clerk Maxwell, the physicist and mathematician noted for his groundbreaking work in electromagnetic theory.

"The Star of Caledonia is a welcome," he said. "Its kinetic form and light-paths are a constant trace of Scotland's power of invention."

Jencks, the project's creative director, described the work as a "scintillating piece of calligraphy seen against the sky" which could have a variety of meanings, such as a starburst, energy, a thistle or St Andrew's cross.

Situated on farmland north of the River Sark next to the M74, the Star of Caledonia will not be the first monument to mark the Border. A previous landmark wall beside the then A74 that welcomed visitors to Scotland had to be removed when the road was upgraded and widened to become the M74.