Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1
Edinburgh's most dramatic natural feature, the nearby
Holyrood Park
, and its
slumbering peak, Arthur's Seat.
The Palace of Holyroodhouse
Canongate • Daily: April-Oct 9.30am-6pm; Nov-March 9.30am-4.30pm; last admission 1hr before closing (note that the palace is closed
to visitors when the Queen is in residence; check the website for advance notice) • £11; entry includes an audio tour •
T
0131 556 5100,
W
royalcollection.org.uk
In its present form, the
Palace of Holyroodhouse
is largely a seventeenth-century
creation, planned for Charles II. However, the tower house of the old palace (the sole
survivor of a fire during Oliver Cromwell's occupation) built for James V in 1532 was
skilfully incorporated to form the northwestern block of today's building, with a virtual
mirror image of it erected as a counterbalance at the other end.
Tours of the palace move through a series of royal
reception rooms
featuring some
outstanding encrusted plasterwork, each more impressive than the last - an idea
Charles II had picked up from his cousin Louis XIV's Versailles - while on the
northern side of the internal quadrangle, the
Great Gallery
extends almost the full
length of the palace and is dominated by portraits of 96 Scottish kings, painted by
Jacob de Wet in 1684 to illustrate the lineage of Stewart royalty. he result is
unintentionally hilarious, as it is clear that the artist's imagination was taxed to bursting
point by the need to paint so many different facial types without having an inkling as
to what the subjects actually looked like.
As you move into the oldest part of the palace, known as
James V's tower
, the
formal, ceremonial tone gives way to dark medieval history, with a tight spiral
staircase leading to the chambers used by
Mary
,
Queen of Scots
. hese contain
various relics, including jewellery, associated with the queen, though the most
compelling viewing is a tiny supper room, from where in 1566 Mary's Italian
secretary,
David Rizzio
, was dragged by conspirators, who included her jealous
husband, Lord Darnley, to the outer chamber and stabbed 56 times; a brass plaque
on the wall points out what are rather optimistically identified as the bloodstains on
the wooden floor.
Holyrood Abbey
Free as part of palace tour
Standing beside the palace are the evocative ruins of
Holyrood Abbey
, some of which
date back to the thirteenth century. Various invading armies paid little respect to the
building over the years, and although it was patched up for Charles I's coronation in
1633 it was gutted in 1688 by an anti-Catholic mob. he roof finally tumbled down in
1768, but the melancholy scene has inspired artists down the years, among them Felix
Mendelssohn, who in 1829 wrote: “Everything is in ruins and mouldering … I believe
I have found the beginning of my Scottish Symphony there today.” Adjacent to the
abbey are the formal palace gardens, open to visitors during the summer months and
offering some pleasant strolls.
The Queen's Gallery
Canongate • Daily: April-Oct 9.30am-6pm; Nov-March 9.30am-4.30pm, last admission 1hr before closing • £6.25 or £15.50 for joint
entry with Holyroodhouse •
T
0207 766 7324,
W
royalcollection.org.uk
Essentially an adjunct to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the
Queen's Gallery
is located in
the shell of a former church directly between the palace and the Parliament. With just
two principal viewing rooms, it's a compact space, but has an appealing contemporary
style which manages to remain sympathetic to the older elements of the building. It's
used to display changing exhibitions from the
Royal Collection
, a vast array of art
treasures held by the Queen on behalf of the British nation. Because the pieces are
otherwise exhibited only during the limited openings of Buckingham Palace and
Windsor Castle, the exhibitions here tend to draw quite a lot of interest. Recent
