OFFICIAL documents relating to Robert Burns were yesterday made available to the public, offering a glimpse at the records of key moments in the national bard's life.
The poet's birth and marriage certificates were uploaded to the internet as part of a £3m project to create digital images of old certificates held at the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS).
Putting the Burns material online will mark the end of a process that began in 2001 to digitise all GROS records dating back more than 100 years. They will go on display on the ScotlandsPeople website.
George Lyon, Deputy Public Services Minister, said the online publication of Burns's documents spearheaded a project which allowed people worldwide to capitalise on the growing interest in genealogical research and trace their Scots ancestry.
Mr Lyon said: "Scotland's old parochial records go back more than 450 years and include our national bard's birth and marriage certificates. These are the last set of registration documents to go online, marking the end of a £3m project to improve access to Scotland's records for genealogists worldwide."
He added: "Visitors from around the world can now research their Scottish roots from their own homes by just the click of a mouse, using documents hundreds of years old. I'm sure it will encourage their interest in visiting Scotland to see for themselves where their ancestors lived."
The website also contains personal documents relating to some of the nation's most esteemed figures, such as Hugh MacDiarmid, Robert Adam, and David Hume.
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