Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
National Portrait Gallery
makes an extravagant contrast to the New Town's
prevailing Neoclassicism. he exterior of the building is encrusted with statues of
national heroes, a theme reiterated in the stunning two-storey entrance hall by
William Hole's tapestry-like
frieze
and
mural
, carefully restored in the building's
recent revamp.
he gallery's
collection
extends to over thirty thousand images with seventeen
exhibition spaces exploring the differing characteristics of Scotland as a nation and a
people. Inevitably oil paintings of the likes of Mary, Queen of Scots and Robert Burns
form the backbone of the collection but there's a lot to be said for the contemporary
portraits that often show a country in cultural flux. Recent temporary exhibitions have
included Italian immigrant Valentina Bonizzi's “Migration Stories”, a photographic
study raising questions of citizenship and belonging, while “Hot Scots” featured a roll
call of Scottish celebrity portraits, with subjects ranging from Armando Iannucci to
Sean Connery - ironically, a longstanding expat.
1
Calton Hill
Edinburgh's enduring tag as the “Athens of the North” is nowhere better earned than
on
Calton Hill
, the volcanic crag which rises up above the eastern end of Princes Street.
Numerous architects homed in on it as a showcase for their most ambitious and
grandiose buildings and monuments, the presence of which emphasizes Calton's aloof
air and sense of detachment. It's also one of the best viewpoints from which to
appreciate the city as a whole, with its tightly knitted suburbs, landmark Old and New
Town buildings and the sea beyond.
Calton Gaol
Waterloo Place • No public access
Many visitors arriving into Waverley Station at Calton Hill's southern drop imagine the
picturesque castellated building hard up against rock to be Edinburgh Castle itself. In
fact, it's the only surviving part of the
Calton Gaol
, once Edinburgh's main prison where
former serial killer William Burke spent his final hours before being executed on
Lawnmarket. Most of the prison was demolished in the 1930s to make way for the
looming Art Deco St Andrew's House, which is today occupied by civil servants.
Old Calton Burial Ground
Waterloo Place • Open 24hr • Free
On Calton hill's southern slopes, tucked behind a line of high, dark, forbidding walls,
the picturesque assembly of mausoleums and gravestones of
Old Calton Burial Ground
,
some at a jaunty angle and others weathered with age, make for an absorbing wander.
Notable among the monuments are the cylindrical memorial by Robert Adam to the
philosopher David Hume, one of Edinburgh's greatest sons, and a piercing obelisk
commemorating various political martyrs.
Nelson Monument
Calton Hill • April-Sept Mon-Sat 10am-7pm, Sun noon-5pm; Oct-March Mon-Sat 10am-3pm • £4
Robert Louis Stevenson reckoned that Calton Hill was the best place to view
Edinburgh, “since you can see the Castle, which you lose from the Castle, and
Arthur's Seat, which you cannot see from Arthur's Seat”. hough the panoramas
from ground level are spectacular enough, those from the top of the
Nelson
Monument
, perched near the summit of Calton Hill, are even better. Each day at
1pm a white ball drops down a mast at the top of the monument; this, together with
the one o'clock gun fired from the Castle battlements (see p.59), once provided a
daily check for the mariners of Leith, who needed accurate chronometers to ensure
reliable navigation at sea.
