St Kilda recreated in Minecraft to mark World Heritage Day
It was once Scotland's most isolated community, a remote archipelago in the Atlantic whose last residents were famously evacuated at their own request in 1930.
Now St Kilda has been digitally recreated in video game Minecraft to allow a new generation to explore the islands without needing to take the long boat journey.
Games studio ImmersiveMinds spent more than 125 hours and used more than three million virtual bricks on the 1:1 scale map of the islands.
St Kilda lies about 40 miles west of North Uist, the nearest inhabited place to the archipelago.
The largest island, Hirta, is home to military contractors working on a MOD listening site, but there is no permanent civilian population.
The islands are now in the care of the National Trust for Scotland.
The Minecraft version of St Kilda has been made to help mark Tuesday’s World Heritage Day.
The map is available for public download to allow gamers all over the world to explore the archipelago’s history, heritage, stories, people and landscapes.
The team from ImmersiveMinds worked closely with Jonathan Wordsworth, the St Kilda archaeologist with The National Trust for Scotland, to ensure that this digital world is as accurate as possible.
The virtual build features abandoned blackhouses, boats and underground structures called souterrains.