The vision to build a giant 3D map of Scotland started as a dream over 40 years ago.

As well as celebrating Poland’s contribution to the Second World War allied efforts, the map was intended to act as a symbol of thanks for the hospitality the soldiers had received while living in Scotland.

Six summers of hard labour and meticulous craftsmanship went into creating this sculpture which has incredible detail of Scotland’s mountains, glens and islands.

But it was a dream which was never completed and a piece of architecture which lay untouched for over a decade in the grounds of Barony Castle in Eddleston, near Peebles.

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Now the sculpture, known as the Great Polish Map of Scotland, has finally been repaired to fit the original vision, with the public able to marvel at the intricacies of this 60×40 metre map up close from above for the first time.

This part of the map details the Moray Firth when looking from the North. Mapa Scotland

The accidental discovery which sparked the restoration

Keen walker Keith Burns first stumbled upon the dilapidated map in 1996. In 2010, charity Mapa Scotland was set up and a small group of volunteers such as Keith have been working to save it from further decay by restoring it and reviving the legacy.

“When we first discovered it, it was very badly damaged with root growth and frost weathering during the winter,” Keith says.

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“As a technical achievement, it was remarkable. Those of us who have been working on restoring it are absolutely staggered at the effort which must have gone in at the time to lay it out and create it because most of that was manual labour.

“Our simple objective was to restore the map to the condition it was abandoned because it was never really finished by the original creators.

He adds: “I believe we are now past the point where the map was left, because, although we know it was provided with pipe work to surround the map with water, we’ve never been able to verify that the map was ever surrounded by water.

“We are now repairing the fine topographic detail of the map although we still have a bit of foundation to do as well.”

Volunteers have been working tirelessly to repair the once forgotten sculpture. Mapa Scotland

Getting the map to this state has been no easy task with around 50,000 kilograms of concrete and mortar used to repair the surface topography of the map and hours of planning and hard labour going into the project, with the latest achievement being the addition of water to the map to fill the lochs, rivers and coastal areas.

Seeing the map take shape before their eyes, Keith says the next big leap forward is the introduction of a new elevated viewing tower which will allow the public to look at the map from above.

Due to be completed by September 11, the Great Polish Map of Scotland now features on the programmes of both the Festival of Architecture and the Borders Heritage Festival, with the public being encouraged to come and enjoy the map this month.

The process of adding water to the map began in December 2015. Mapa Scotland

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The men and the messages behind the map

Research from Keith and the team at Mapa Scotland suggests the structure, which has since been granted category B listed status from Historic Scotland, was the brainchild of Krakow-born Jan Tomasik.

Jan was a sergeant in the 1st Polish Armoured Division and had been stationed in Galashiels during the war. He became a successful hotelier in Edinburgh after the war and added Barony Castle to his properties in 1968.

The map, built between 1975 and 1979, is thought to have been mainly the work of a small group of Poles from the Jagiellonian University of Krakow and led by the map’s main designer Dr. Kazimierz Trafas.

But after the hotel closed in 1985, the map fell gradually into neglect and disrepair and became heavily overgrown and almost hidden from sight.

“It’s like repairing the pyramids”

The Great Map of Scotland is in the grounds of Barony Castle. Mapa Scotland

While September 2016 marks a major milestone in the map’s history, Keith says it is merely another part of the story rather than the closing chapter, with the charity now eagerly looking for local enthusiasts to continue with the maintenance.

“It will always be an ongoing project because there’s no clear completion point to looking after the map,” he says.

“We’ve restored it to the condition it was more or less in when it was abandoned but even to do nothing else, it will need care and maintenance because as soon as you stop working on it – keeping it tidy by removing moss and algae on the water – it will start degrading again.

“It’s like repairing the pyramids – it is not a job that will come to an end.”

He adds: “There’s been an enormous amount of community interest but converting community interest into willingness to actually put some effort into looking after an asset like this is not as easy as you can imagine.

“It has put Eddleston on the map globally, particularly because we believe it is the only 3D topographic model of a complete nation anywhere in the world.

“The community at large need to recognise this now and step in and join us in handover for the next phase – the long term care and maintenance – to make sure it doesn’t get lost again.”