Bring Sir John Home - Save the Bouchardon Bust!

Aim

Stop the export of our Highland heritage. Save the Bouchardon Bust, and keep it home!

Who We Are & Our Mission

We are the trustees at the Invergordon Naval Museum & Heritage Centre, standing alongside a coalition of Highland residents and cultural defenders across Scotland and the UK.

The Bouchardon Bust, a masterpiece representing the very founder of our town, was originally bought for the people of Invergordon in 1930. Our mission is to return it to the community. While the major national museums and galleries in Scotland are generously providing us with their expert guidance and curatorial knowledge, they are not funding this. The responsibility to raise the capital rests entirely on our shoulders. This is our project, our hometown, and our fight.  

The Vision: 5 Months to Beat Goliath

The Bouchardon Bust is currently valued at £3.1 million plus VAT. It is a staggering, titanic sum, and we are under no illusions: this is a massive mountain to climb.  

But the UK Government has officially placed a temporary export bar on the bust, granting us a critical 5-month deferral window to match the price and save it for the nation. We have exactly five months to stop this irreplaceable piece of our identity from being crated up and shipped abroad to a gallery.  

Our ultimate goal is to prove that community pride can triumph over the global elite.

This is the ultimate David versus Goliath battle. If we succeed, we will show the world that local history cannot simply be bought out from under the people who cherish it.

How Your Money Will Be Used

We are in active, urgent negotiations with major UK national heritage funders and grant-giving bodies to secure the multi-million-pound foundations of this purchase.

But institutional grants will not cover the whole cost. We need public backing to cross the finish line.

Every pound raised by the public acts as vital leveraged funding. Major heritage grants require the local community to demonstrate "skin in the game" before they unlock the big funds. Your donations will be used by the Invergordon Naval Museum & Heritage Centre to:

• Secure the Purchase: Form the vital local fund needed to meet the £3.1m + VAT target before the 5-month deadline expires.
• Halt the Export Permanently: Cover the legal and acquisition costs to officially transfer ownership of the bust back to Invergordon so that locals, visitors from across Scotland, and tourists from the wider UK can view Sir John Gordon, forever.

Time Is Running Out. We Need You.

The clock is ticking. Five months from now, this masterpiece will either be safely housed in Invergordon, or it will be gone forever.

We have the expert knowledge from Scotland's major institutions, and we have famous faces backing our corner. Now, we need everybody’s support, from the local streets of Easter Ross to heritage lovers across the UK.

Let’s make history by saving it. Please donate today and help us bring the bust home.

Funding method

All or nothing – this project will only receive pledges if it reaches its target of £100,000 by 17th August 2026 at 2:09pm