Hundreds of thousands of records in a magnificent domed archive tell the tales of nearly 200 years of Scottish lives, loves, and deaths.

The early years of Scotland's archives were almost as turbulent as the country's own history, with records taken back and forth across the English border. Many were lost and stolen, while still more are incomplete. But as things grew more settled, the country began to maintain a centralized national archive where its stories and histories could be stored.

The present-day headquarters were completed in 1834, some 60 years after construction began. Designed and constructed by the Adams brothers, James and Robert. But their crowning jewel is a central rotunda: the Adam Dome. Measuring around 80 feet in height, it has curved shelves that hold volumes recording Scotland's past. The National Records of Scotland hold records created by courts of law, churches, businesses, landed estates and other corporate bodies. It also holds the largest collection of maps and plans in Scotland.

No matter how glorious the building might be from an architectural or engineering perspective, however, its real treasure lies in the 80 kilometers of records held in its buildings. The New Register House built just behind the General Register House was completed in 1863 and holds the records of vital events. From 1855, registrars have patiently recorded the births, deaths, and marriages in Scotland—as they do to this very day. Many of these volumes are stored in shelves of an ironwork domed space; At 90 feet, it is taller than the Adam Dome in the building nearby.

Births are stored in red books on the first tier; deaths are in funereal black on the second; and marriages are in the green books at the top. Above them all are original marriage schedules, signed by wedding couples immediately after their marriage ceremonies in Scotland, alongside the country's open census records from 1841 to 1921. The majority of these records are available to view online at Scotland's People, the Scottish Government's official site for tracing Scottish ancestry.

These millions and millions of pages contain MacDonalds, Stewarts, Campbells, and Murrays, along with almost as many variant spellings. They may just look like names in a book, but each is a memento of a life begun, ended, or joined to another on Caledonian soil.