A new trail in France has been launched in celebration of one of Scotland’s most famous architects.

The Charles Rennie Mackintosh Trail in Roussillon focuses on the watercolour paintings of the renowned architect.

It features reproductions of his paintings at the spots where they were created.

30 reproductions stretch across the valleys of the Tech and the Têt and on the Côte Vermielle.

They offer visitors and trail-walkers the opportunity to compare the Glasgow artist’s interpretations with the landscapes that inspired them.


The trail was opened by Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore. At the ceremony, Mr Moore unveiled a new bronze plaque by British sculptor Jane Robbins.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed landmark buildings in his home city of Glasgow such as the Lighthouse and Glasgow School of Art.

He was the UK’s main forebearer of the Art Nouveau movement, but later became a full-time painter.

He painted in a unique style, not dissimilar to surrealism.

The new trail seeks to show off the landscapes he painted while in France. Mackintosh is said to have picked his locations by finding somewhere that would protect him from the wind with a suitable rock to sit upon.

Costing £200,000, it follows Mackintosh’s footsteps from the Mediterranean coast to the mountains of Cerdagne.

He died in 1928 and his wife scattered his ashes at Port-Vendres in 1929.

(IT)