The Pictish stone at Dunfallandy is situated on top of a mound a mile south of the Perthshire town of Pitlochry. It lies within a protective shelter of glass and stone with an Historic Scotland information sign attached to the side wall, the text of which reads as follows:
'WELCOME TO THE DUNFALLANDY STONE
This elaborately-carved stone was raised here more than 1200 years ago as a symbol of faith and power.
Marking a place of prayer, the stone was set prominently on a mound once topped by a chapel. Its carved designs show the sophistication of Pictish culture, mixing influences from across the British Isles and Europe with local traditions and beliefs.
A COLOURED STONE?
Some scholars believe it possible that sculptures like this one were once coloured. Pictish artists may have used mineral pigments pigments like yellow ochre, red lead and green verdigris to echo the style of contemporary metalwork and illuminated manuscripts.
GIVE ME SHELTER
The stone has been enclosed in a case to protect its carvings from the elements, which can cause delicate stonework to flake away.
VISIT PICTLAND
Hints of the lost Pictish language may survive in nearby place names:
Aberfeldy: The first part of the name - Aber - means river mouth. Peldy may be a later Gaelic name for a local water spirit.
Orchil: This name comes from ar, meaning 'by the' and celli, the Pictish word for woodland.'
A large coloured illustration of the stone depicts both sides and gives a clearer indication of what the symbols may be, and their meaning by numbered references:
'THE CROSS SIDE
1 An intricately-decorated cross in a style reminiscent of Pictish jewellery.
2 A life-like stag looking over its shoulder.
3 Distinctive Pictish monsters, agents of God's wrath.
4 Jonah being swallowed by a fish-tailed ketos, an early-Christian version of the Biblical whale.
5 Two cherubim, Christian motifs, possibly copied from a lost manuscript.
THE THRONES SIDE
6 Two enthroned saints, bishops or possibly a king or queen with a cross between them similar to the manuscript, far left.
7 Distinctive Pictish symbols identifying the three figures, their meaning now lost.
8 Iron working tools - tongs, hammer and an anvil or crucible.
9 A rider, perhaps representing both Christ and the wealthy patron who paid for the stone's creation.'
There are two photographs, one a roman statue of a Biblical seamonster expelling Jonah. He is shown being swallowed on the Dunfallandy Stone. The other photo is taken of the Dunfallandy Stone in the 1800s. There is also an illustration of a royal couple with an altar cross in an 11th-century English manuscript.
The stone is signposted on a minor road heading south from Pitlochry on the western side of the River Tummel. A farm driveway leads to a set of steps which head up the side of the mound to the stone.