Scanned image of view from ESE showing part of National Monument with Playfair's Monument in background

Description Scanned image of view from ESE showing part of National Monument with Playfair's Monument in background

Date 1979

Collection Papers of Professor John R Hume, economic and industrial historian, Glasgow, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 792298

Category On-line Digital Images

Scope and Content National Monument, Calton Hill, Edinburgh, from east-south-east This view from the east-south-east, taken in 1979, shows the National Monument, designed by C R Cockerell and William H Playfair as a monument to the Scots who had fallen in the Napoleonic Wars. It was designed as a replica of the Parthenon, on the Acropolis in Athens. The scheme to build a monument was supported by Sir Walter Scott, Lord Cockburn and Lord Elgin. Construction began in 1826, and ended in 1829, when the money ran out. It is one of the Greek Revival structures which earned for Edinburgh the reputation for being the 'Athens of the North'. Calton Hill was uninhabitable until the construction of the North Bridge brought piped water to the New Town. Even then it was not developed significantly for housing, becoming instead a place for monuments and memorials, as well as for the city's prison and High School. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

External Reference CTH96

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/792298

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap