We welcome you to the Virtual St Kilda.
The islands hold a fascination and relevance for life today. Evacuated in 1930, the remaining 36 islanders left and the St Kilda way of life ended. The St Kilda story speaks to both the challenges and richness of life on the edge of sustainability and the fragility of the lives we lead.
In 2014 the Virtual St Kilda exhibit was first shown in the Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum. It featured a digital reconstruction of St Kilda together with songs, stories and performances from the schools and communities of Uist. We recreated the Village Bay as it would have looked, enabling a better understanding of how the island was and the way of life, around 1890 before the evacuation on 29 August 1930.
Much has happened since the Virtual St Kilda exhibit was first shown at Taigh Chearsabhagh, both in the spheres of technology and in wider life.
Today we are able to represent the island in more detail, bringing new aspects of the island to life. Using gaming technology we represent the landscape and buildings with improved realism, represent some of the characters from the island, and simulate weather conditions. We take you to St Kilda on the bright sunny days, experienced by most who visit the island when the seas are calm. We also simulate the seas and the wind and the weather that made the island inaccessible for much of the year.
The National Trust for Scotland owns the archipelago of St Kilda and manages it, in partnership with Nature Scot, Historic Scotland and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar. Kind thanks to The National Trust for Scotland, for support, and for supplying images and audio for the exhibition.
Virtual St Kilda Revisited is open in Gallery 1 from 10am-4pm, Monday to Saturday. The exhibition is free and suitable for all ages. If you would like to support our continued programming and enable us to keep offering free events, please consider making a donation to Taigh Chearsabhagh.