2009 European Curling Championships

Provost John Ross was Lord Provost in Aberdeen, Scotland from 1710 to 1712. Today he is most famous for the house he occupied in the 18th century from 1702.

Shiprow is a historic street in the heart of Aberdeen, Scotland, near the harbour. Formerly the Shiprow sloped upward more gradually than it does now, and it crossed Union Street in a depression between St Catherine's Hill on the west and Castle Street, once high uneven ground, on the east. That the Shiprow has been made up several feet can be seen by a house at the end of Exchequer Row, and it crossed Union Street and entered Broad Street at a lower level than the present. The Shiprow was one of the most important streets in the city, since it led from the harbour into the Castlegate area - the heart of Aberdeen. It is first mentioned in documents in 1281. Over the years it became more and more rundown and, although it had many historic connections, nearly all of it was demolished in the 1950s and 60s. Exchequer Row known locally as Cheq'ra Wynd (first mentioned in 1350) was a short congested lane connecting the Shiprow to the Castlegate, and on its right side, were a number of courts leading into an area crammed with insanitary dwellings which were later demolished. It was popularly supposed that the name Exchequer Row derived from the Aberdeen Mint which stood in the area. However, it comes from the name of the Royal Customs House - the Skakkarium, dating back to the 14th century. Provost Ross's house, dating from 1593 and the second oldest house in the city, is located here. Since 1981, it has housed part of the Aberdeen Maritime Museum. Shiprow has changed dramatically in the last few years and now houses, alongside the Maritime Museum, the City Wharf office development, PureGym, Hotel Ibis, Lane7 Bowling Alley and Vue Cinema.

Aberdeen Town House is a municipal facility in Castle Street, Aberdeen, Scotland. The town house, which is the headquarters of Aberdeen City Council, is a Category A listed building.

Aberdeen Maritime Museum is a maritime museum in Aberdeen, Scotland. The museum is situated on the historic Shiprow in the heart of the city, near the harbour. It makes use of a range of buildings including the former Trinity Congregational Church, which was converted to be used as an extension of the museum, and Provost Ross' House, one of the oldest domestic buildings in the city.The museum tells the story of the city's long relationship with the North Sea. Its collections cover shipbuilding, fast sailing ships, fishing and port history, and displays on the North Sea oil industry.

The Tolbooth in Aberdeen, Scotland is a 17th-century former jail which is now operated as a museum. The museum contains prison cells and exhibits various police and law and order related items. The building has been featured on popular television as the setting for a ghostlore story.

Greyfriars Church is a Category A Listed building in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was designed by the architect Alexander Marshall Mackenzie and built in 1903. It is situated on Broad Street and forms the south-east corner of Marischal College, also designed by Mackenzie.

The Aberdeen Sheriff Court Annex and High Court of Justiciary, also known as Mercatgate, is a judicial building in Castle Street, Aberdeen, Scotland. The building, which operates in conjunction with similar facilities in Edinburgh and Glasgow, is provided for the use of the High Court of Justiciary, which is the supreme criminal court in Scotland. It is a Category A listed building.

New Aberdeen is a neighbourhood in Aberdeen, Scotland. A Royal Burgh of was established by the reign of David I in the middle of the twelfth century with Alexander II establishing a Guild of Merchants in New Aberdeen in 1222. It was a fishing and trading settlement where the river Denburn entered the Dee estuary. The burgh of New Aberdeen was merged with Old Aberdeen in 1891 to form the county of the city of Aberdeen.The area has some of the oldest streets in Aberdeen dating from the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries in New Aberdeen's historic marketplace the Castlegate where Aberdeen's Mercat cross is situated. Marischal College was founded in 1593 on the site of a disused medieval Franciscan friary by George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal of Scotland as a more Protestant alternative to Old Aberdeen's King's College. It was Scotland's second post-medieval "civic university", after the University of Edinburgh, created without a Papal bull and with a greater resemblance to the Protestant arts colleges of continental Europe to train post-Reformation Kirk clergy. and became known as Aberdeen's "Town College".

Castlegate is a small area of Aberdeen, Scotland, located centrally at the east end of the city's main thoroughfare Union Street. Generally speaking, locals consider it to encompass the square at the end of Union Street where the Mercat Cross and Gallowgate are located. At the upper end of Castlegate stands The Salvation Army Citadel, an effective castellated mansion, on the site of the medieval Aberdeen Castle. Castlegate was named after the site of the castle gates until their destruction in 1308. Aberdeen's Mercat Cross was built in 1686 by John Montgomery, a native architect. This open-arched structure, 21 ft (6 m) in diameter and 18 ft (5 m) high, is a large hexagonal base from the centre of which rises a shaft with a Corinthian capital, on which is the royal unicorn. The base is highly decorated, including medallions illustrating Scottish monarchs from James I to James VII. According to local legend, the ghost of a unicorn can be seen to circle the Castlegate when a full moon is visible. Originally erected opposite the Mercat Cross, a statue of George Gordon, 5th Duke of Gordon, erected in 1844, was relocated to Golden Square in the 1950s.To the east of Castle Street were the Castlehill Barracks, which were demolished in 1965 and replaced with two tower blocks. The Gallowgate, just off the main square, is named after the former site of the gallows. A small area of the old granite road pavings remains in the bus lane, next to the courts, just the spot where public hangings were conducted. To the west, just off the main square, is the Castlegate Well, which is no longer used. A small bronze statue was erected over the top by William Lindsay, a goldsmith then in charge of the city's water. The Castlegate was used as a terminus for the Aberdeen Corporation Tramways system and later for buses.

Marischal College ( MAR-shəl) is a large granite building on Broad Street in the centre of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland, and since 2011 has acted as the headquarters of Aberdeen City Council. However, the building was constructed for and is on long-term lease from the University of Aberdeen, which still uses parts of the building to store its museum collections. Today, it provides corporate office space and public access to council services, adjacent to the Town House, the city's historic seat of local government. Many Aberdonians consider Marischal College to be an icon of the "Granite City" and to symbolise the zenith of Aberdeen's granite-working industry. The construction of the modern college building began in 1835, following the demolition of previous buildings on the site, and was completed in its present form in the early 1900s. It is the second largest granite building in the world. Formerly the seat of the Marischal College and University of Aberdeen founded in 1593, the building was retained by the unified University of Aberdeen, which was created in 1860 by the merger of Marischal College and King's College. The buildings of Marischal College continued to be used for academic purposes until the mid-20th century and less and less until the early 2000s. During this period they were frequently rebuilt and expanded upon. In the mid-to-late 20th century, teaching and academic activities at the university began to move to King's College or Foresterhill (for students of medicine) and by the early 21st century a new purpose for Marischal College was required. After a number of unsuccessful proposals, the majority of the building was leased to Aberdeen City Council to be restored and refurbished as office accommodation. The extensive renovation was completed on schedule and significantly under budget and the building opened to the public in June 2011. The university has retained the Mitchell Hall and a number of other significant parts of the building for its own use, in addition to its museum stores (formerly the Marischal Museum).

Aberdeen Arts Centre is a theatre and arts centre on King Street in Aberdeen, Scotland with a 350-seater auditorium. It is a Category A listed building.The building was originally the North Parish Church. The church was converted to an Arts Centre in 1963. By December of that year the Attic Theatre Company were presenting McWhittington, a pantomime over Christmas and New Year. As a successor to previous groups such as Aberdeen Children's Theatre established by Catherine Hollingworth, and ACT Aberdeen, Castlegate Arts Limited which operates Aberdeen Arts Centre has charitable status. The centre is a community-focused arts venue, which aims to provide facilities and opportunities for individuals of all ages, backgrounds and abilities to engage in the performing arts.The theatre is on two levels, with an upper and a lower gallery for audiences. There is a small orchestra pit and behind the stage there are dressing and rehearsal rooms for the shows and other projects such as local drama groups. In addition the theatre has a large participatory arts programme. The centre is home to Castlegate Theatre Company (formally established by Annie Inglis), an award-winning youth group for teenagers which focuses on devised theatre. It hosts classes for writers and illustrators, Drama classes, led by Sheena Blackhall, Julie Hutton and Barry Donaldson. It hosts touring drama and musical productions and the annual Granite Noir crime writing festival. In addition Aberdeen Arts Centre puts on a summer festival known in Aberdeen as 'The Arts Carnival'. The building also houses an exhibition area which hosts local and visiting art shows. Since 2007 it has hosted an artist in residence programme at the arts centre. The first artist was Will Teather.

Provost Skene's House is a house in Aberdeen, built in 1545 and now housing a museum. It is named after Provost Skene, who bought it in 1669 and is thought to have commissioned its 17th century plaster ceilings.It lies in central Aberdeen, midway between the Kirk of St Nicholas and Marischal College.