National Monument of Scotland
The National Monument of Scotland, on
The monument dominates the top of Calton Hill, just to the east of Princes Street. It was designed during 1823–6 by Charles Robert Cockerell and William Henry Playfair and is modeled upon the Parthenon in Athens. Construction started in 1826 and, due to the lack of funds, was left unfinished in 1829. This circumstance gave rise to various nicknames such as "Scotland's Folly", "Edinburgh's Disgrace",[4] "the Pride and Poverty of Scotland" and "Edinburgh's Folly".[5]
Proposals
As early as 1816, the
| National Monument in Scotland Act 1822 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 3 Geo. 4. c. 100 | |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 30 July 1822 |
In January 1822, a proposal was put forward to 'erect a facsimile of the
Sixteen months after the initial appeal, only £16,000 had been found with the possibility of a £10,000 grant from Parliament. In 1826, the building was finally commissioned and work began.[7] The builder contracted to execute the work was Messrs William Wallace & Son.[3]
Originally, the building was planned to have extensive
to adopt the Temple of Minerva or Parthenon of Athens, as the model of the Monument, and to restore to the civilised world that celebrated and justly admired edifice, without any deviation whatever, excepting the adaptation of the sculpture to the events and achievements of the Scottish Heroes, whose prowess and glory it is destined to commemorate and perpetuate, and part of which monument or building must, in terms of the said Act, be appropriated as a church or place of Divine worship, to be maintained in all time coming by the said Association[3]
Laying of the foundation stone
The foundation stone, which weighs 6 tons, was laid on 27 August 1822, during the visit of George IV to Scotland.
The
The deposition of the
Ideas for completion
Early proposals for completion work tended to focus on following the original plans; however, during the early 20th century several alternative plans were proposed:[1]
- as a monument to Queen Victoria (1901)
- as a monument commemorating the 1707 Act of Union with England (1907)
- as a new Scottish National Gallery (1907)
- as a Scottish Parliament building(1908)
- as a memorial to those who fell in the Great War (1918, George Washington Browne)
Subsequent attempts to 'complete' the National Monument have never borne fruit for reasons of either cost or lack of local enthusiasm. A proposal in 2004 met with a mixed reception.[11]
The monument was repaired in December 2008, repositioning one of the stone lintels that had moved out of alignment. The cost was £100,262.[12][13]
Protection
The National Monument was classified as a Category A Listed building in 1966. It is not a scheduled monument.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d Historic Environment Scotland. "Calton Hill, off Regent Road, National Monument (Category A Listed Building) (LB27820)". Retrieved 18 March 2019.
- ^ a b c Grant, James (1887). "15". Old and new Edinburgh: its history, its people, and its places. Vol. 3. Cassell. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
- ^ a b c Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (23 January 1888). "Donations to the Museum and Library". Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Vol. XXII. Edinburgh: Neill and Company. p. 64. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
- ^ Thomas Guthrie; William Garden Blaikie; Benjamin Waugh (1901). The Sunday Magazine. Strahan & Company.
The National Monument on Calton Hill, Edinburgh, which looks like the fragment of a stupendous ruin, and which is an outstanding feature in the views of Auld Reekie, is popularly known as Scotland's folly or Edinburgh's disgrace.
- ^ "Lost Edinburgh: Edinburgh's Disgrace". www.scotsman.com. 17 February 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
- ISBN 978-0-19-211696-3.
- ^ a b c Youngson, A.J. (1975) [First published 1966]. The Making of Classical Edinburgh. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 159–161.
- JSTOR 26589592.
- ^ Laurie, William Alexander (1859). The History of Free Masonry and the Grand Lodge of Scotland. Google Books: Seton & Mackenzie. pp. 195.
- ^ Stark, John (1823). Picture of Edinburgh: containing a description of the city and its environs. J. Anderson. pp. 78–79. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
- ^ "Architect flags up plan to finish 'Edinburgh's Disgrace'". Edinburgh Evening News. 20 April 2004. Archived from the original on 10 March 2007. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
- ^ Edinburgh World Heritage Annual Review 2008-09, p.16
- ^ Edinburgh World Heritage, National Monument
Further reading
- Linning, Michael (1819). Report of the proceedings of a numerous and respectable meeting ... with a view to the erection of a national monument ... J. Ballantyne. p. 39.