Today, Veere is a charming, tranquil town in the Zeeland region of the Netherlands. For centuries, however, it was a busy and prosperous trading hub and home to a substantial community of Scottish merchants. The long and significant links between Scotland and Veere are still reflected in the town’s architecture and heritage today, including in the Scots House – a former merchants’ base which now serves as the town’s main museum.
When the Scottish Diaspora Tapestry was created in 2014, Veere was keen to share its story. The town produced six of the twelve Netherlands panels in the Tapestry, informing and embroidering the designs created by Andrew Crummy. The Scots House museum hosted the first overseas exhibition of the fully completed Tapestry in 2015, and held a further exhibition in 2024 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the project. These exhibitions were celebrated with gun salutes, Scottish musical performances, and the flying of the Saltire over the town hall.
So important are the historic links between Scotland and Veere – and the resulting contribution to the Scottish Diaspora Tapestry – that a team of embroiderers at the museum decided they wanted to create a duplicate set of the Veere tapestry panels so that they could be displayed in the town.
Museum Veere has invited us to display their new panels in Prestonpans prior to their permanent exhibition in Veere. We are delighted to do so.
