Visitors to Haddo House in Aberdeenshire may not have realised it, but for years they been walking all over a vital piece of the stately home’s history.
The library’s custom-made chenille carpet is one of the largest in Europe, and has been in place since Victoria times.
And now work to preserve the exquisite rug – which was made by Templeton of Glasgow in 1884 – has been completed.
For years, the team at Haddo has masked the 56ft by 25ft rug with a felt drugget to protect it from “wear and tear”.
But when this itself started to age, staff at the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) property began fundraising for a replacement, and secured the £20,000 to install a digitally-created replica of the carpet called an “Eyemat”.
The installation of this new carpet was completed yesterday, with the reproduction placed on top of the original in the room.
Victoria McAllister, collections care assistant for Haddo House, said the new drugget was even featured old carpet’s stains for the sake of authenticity.
She added: “The library is one of our most used rooms for functions and performances. It was one of the biggest of its type in Europe and made especially for this room in 1884.
“Because the carpet is so large in order to store it properly it is best to leave it in situ.
“We wanted to protect the carpet for the public to be able to access the room otherwise it would mean people wouldn’t be able to go into the library.
“The drugget that we had on it is coming to the end of its life and was completely detracting from the room and wasn’t protecting the carpet underneath.
“Through fundraising we have been able to afford this new carpet and it is basically a complete photographic replica of the old one, it even has the old stains on it.”
Haddo House was designed by legendary Scots architect William Adam and built in 1732 and is renowned for its interiors.
Mrs McAllister said the original carpet would be protected and safe from damage and pests underneath the Eyemat.
She said: “Basically when you walk in it looks as it should have originally looked. It has taken about two years for us to get there, it has been quite a long process, but we couldn’t have done it without the members who contribute to us.
“We are really chuffed with the results of it.”