Hamilton Palace : The Dukes of Hamilton and their Collections

The destruction of Hamilton Palace, the grandest stately home in Britain, was a great loss to the country’s national heritage.

In 1882, Hamilton Palace stood grandly to the south-east of Glasgow. Home to the Dukes of Hamilton for nearly 300 years, inside its magnificent walls lived treasures to rival the Royal Collection: exquisite furniture, famed paintings, coveted objets d’art, the finest finds from antiquity.

Yet by 1921, all of the Palace’s contents had been sold to the highest bidder and the stately home condemned for demolition. The spiral of decline started by the 10th duke’s grand architectural changes ended in subsidence caused by excessive coalmining.

Today, the treasures of Hamilton Palace are on display in museums and collections all over the world. National Museums Scotland, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, the National Trust, the Louvre, Lennoxlove House and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts – all have carefully collected, stored, conserved and exhibited rooms and objects from Scotland’s lost treasure trove.

This richly illustrated book tells the story of Scotland's lost treasure. It examines the immense palace of the first peers of Scotland and the hundreds of works of art acquired by twelve dukes over the course of 300 years.