Tourism Ireland celebrates Season 6 by repurposing Game of Thrones history

Earlier this year, Storm Gertrude ripped up several 200-year-old beech trees from the Dark Hedges, a natural landmark in County Amtrim, Northern Ireland. It’s a landmark that should be familiar to any Game of Thrones fan.

The Dark Hedges stood in for the Kingsroad on the show. You may remember Arya and Gendry fleeing down it in Season 2.

The storm was a blow not only to a valuable tourism spot but also to Game of Thrones history. Tourism Ireland, the same agency that mounted a series of inspired GoT-themed stunts during Season 5 (the fountain frozen mid-spurt by White Walkers was my personal favorite) is making lemons out of lemonade.

Tourism Ireland saved the fallen trees and will use the wood to make ten doors, one for each episode of Game of Thrones Season 6. On each door, it’ll work with world class illustrators, CGI artists, and CNC engineers who will engrave the doors with artistic depictions of the episode’s storylines. Then each door will be posted at a pub around Northern Ireland, culminating in a country-wide pub crawl of epic proportions.

The first door, for “The Red Woman,” has already been completed. It depicts Westeros itself, and the major powers at play.

Pretty gorgeous. Some close-ups:

The first door is housed in a pub called The Cuan, near the Castle Ward filming location.

We’ll be bringing you information on Tourism Ireland’s efforts all season long. It has more than Game of Thrones-themed doors in mind. Already this week, it’s released its first in a series of limited edition GoT stamps.

These stamps are being created in conjunction with the Royal Mail—they let you send post from Northern Ireland GoT Territory. As with the doors, a new one will be released each week, and each one will be inspired by current themes on the show.

We’ll be bringing you info on Tourism Ireland’s campaign each week. If they put this much effort into all of their promotions, we’ll be in for something special.