Category Archives: United Kingdom

Sondheim Theater (London, England, U.K.)

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Sondheim Theatre

The highlight of our third day in London was to see the brilliant staging of one of the world’s most popular musicals – Cameron Mackintosh’s acclaimed fully-staged new production of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg’s Les Misérables, the West End‘s longest-running musical, at the Sondheim Theatre.  This revolutionary Tony Award and Laurence Olivier Award-winning West End musical, opened last September 25, 2021, will run until March 29, 2025.

Check out “Musical Review: Les Miserables”

The theatre’s marquee

The 1,222-pax Sondheim Theatre (formerly the Queen’s Theatre) was so beautiful, it was an attraction in its own right.  Prior to the show, we waited at the luxurious bar which looked like a VIP Lounge. The theatre offers three seating areas: Stalls, Dress Circle and Grand Circle.

L-R: Selena, Manny, Sean, Paula, Grace, the author and Jandy

This West End theatre  opened as the Queen’s Theatre on October 8, 1907, as a twin to the neighboring Hicks Theatre (now the Gielgud Theatre), on the adjoining corner of Shaftesbury Avenue, which had opened ten months earlier. Both theatres were designed by W. G. R. Sprague.

The original plan was to name the venue the Central Theatre. However, after a lengthy debate, it was named the Queen’s Theatre and a portrait of Queen Alexandra was hung in the foyer. The first production at the Queen’s Theatre was a comedy by Madeleine Lucette Ryley called The Sugar Bowl. Although it was poorly received and ran for only 36 performances, the theatre received glowing reviews.

Staircase

In 1913, Tango Teas became a popular pastime and the stalls seats were replaced with tables and chairs where, for the sum of 2/6, people took tea while watching professional tango dancers and dress parades on stage. In 1920, Elsie Janis altered the theatre so that the stalls were “surrounded by a parterre and backed by a luxurious lounge.” A note in the program for It’s All Wrong, described as a “musical complaint,”” read “Miss Janis regrets that her name appears so often in the program, but she does not wish to shirk any of the responsibilities.”

In September 24, 1940, a German bomb landed directly on the theatre, destroying the facade and lobby areas. The production at the time was Daphne du Maurier’s highly successful Rebecca starring Celia Johnson, Owen Nares and Margaret Rutherford.

The theatre stage

The theatre remained closed until, almost 20 years later, a £250,000 restoration was completed by Architects Westwood Sons & Partners. With Sir Hugh Casson acting as consultant on the décor, the auditorium retained its Edwardian decor, while the lobbies and exterior were rebuilt in a modern style. On July 8, 1959, the reconstructed theatre opened with Ages of Man, John Gielgud’s solo recital  in Shakespeare speeches and sonnets. In June 1972, the theatre was Grade II listed by English Heritage.

From April 2004 to July 2019, the theatre played host to Cameron Mackintosh‘s production of Les Misérables, the West End‘s longest-running musical which, after 18 years, transferred at the nearby Palace Theatre. The musical celebrated its 20th anniversary at the venue on October 8, 2005, and overtook Cats as the West End‘s longest-running musical of all time a year later on October 8, 2006. In 2010, Delfont Mackintosh refurbished Queen’s Theatre for the 25th Anniversary of Les Misérables and, on October 8, 2015, the show celebrated the 30th anniversary of its original opening at the Barbican Centre in 1985.  On September 4, 2019, the show celebrated its 14,000th performance.

In 2019, Cameron Mackintosh announced that the original production of Les Misérables would close on July 13, 2019 while the theatre underwent an extensive £13.8 million, lightning fast 20-week refurbishment and restoration. The auditorium’s lovely Edwardian splendor was recreated, from the 1950s reconstruction, with the addition of a curved rail and new boxes at dress circle level, named after Maggie Smith and Judi Dench. Overhangs and ceilings on each tier were also redecorated with a recurring W. G. R. Sprague-inspired cherub design in carved plaster and “fifteen colors and seven shades of gold.” In total, approximately 70 to 80% of the plastering in the building was redone and a new, custom-made chandelier was hung.

Dress Circle and Grand Circle seating areas

To be closer to the audience, the stage was lowered 30 cm. and the famous and innovative revolving stage, used in Les Misérables to enable smooth and seamless changes between scenes, was also notably removed.  In a void space, next door to the theatre, 32 additional toilets were installed. Additional space on every floor, from the basement up, was also reclaimed from a former electricity substation leased to the electric board in 1907. This allowed for more space on stage as well as additional dressing rooms on several floors, now fitted with showers. Finally, to improve audience comfort and sight-lines, new seating was installed.

Ceiling and chandelier

On December 18, 2019, the Queen’s Theatre was renamed as the Sondheim Theatre in honor of composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim who was also celebrating his 90th birthday.  On January 16, 2020, following completion, the Sondheim Theatre re-opened for its first performance of Les Misérables, featuring sets inspired by original paintings by Victor Hugo, in the 2009 touring staging.

Past and present productions

  • Hamlet (1930) – this Old Vic production transferred to Queen’s and John Gielgud gave his first Shaftesbury Avenue performances of the role he made almost his own with Donald Wolfit as a strong Claudius.
  • Moonlight in Silver (1934) – an ‘ultra-modern problem play’ by Clemence Dane, starred Gertrude Lawrence and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. This glamorous couple attracted much media attention especially as they were having an affair both on and off stage.
  • Short Story (1935) – Robert Morley’s first play, it combined a host of talent in Marie Tempest, Sybil Thorndike, Margaret Rutherford and Rex Harrison.
  • 1937 – The Gielgud season of Richard II, The School for Scandal, Three Sistersand The Merchant of Venice brought glittering casts and outstanding performances to the theatre. Those who appeared included Leon Quartermaine, Michael Redgrave, Glen Byam Shaw, Anthony Quayle, Alec Guinness, Peggy Ashcroft and George Devine.
  • Stop the World I Want to Get Off (1961) – Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse’s thought-provoking musical about the value of personal versus career choices, ran for 478 performances before transferring to Broadway.
  • A Suite in Three Keys (1966) – Noël Coward made his final West End appearance.
  • In August and September 1966 – Laurence Olivier’s National Theatre presented their first West End season, including famous productions of The Royal Hunt of the Sun and Othello.
  • In 1972, Marlene Dietrich appeared for a short season in cabaret. She had first sung in cabaret at the Queen’s in 1964, and her performance can be heard on a live recording.
  • Private Lives (1972) – Maggie Smith and Robert Stephens appeared in this acclaimed production.
  • Saturday, Sunday, Monday (1974) – by Eduardo de Filippo, Franco Zeffirelli directed Joan Plowright in a notable production.
  • Another Country (1982) – Julian Mitchell’s story about Guy Burgess’s schooldays, starred Rupert Everett and launched Kenneth Branagh’s career. Everett was subsequently replaced by Daniel Day Lewis and Colin Firth.
  • Wonderful Town (1986) – a major revival of Leonard Bernstein’s musical about New York won both Laurence Olivier Award and Variety Club Awards.
  • Three Sisters (1990) – the first time two sisters (Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave) had acted on stage together. Their niece Jemma also appeared here.
  • Passion (1996) – Stephen Sondheim‘s love triangle  ran for 232 performances and won Maria Friedman an Olivier Award for her role as Fosca.
  • The Lady in the Van (1999) – Maggie Smith “acted with every muscle” as the smelly, eccentric  Miss Shepherd who lived in playwright Alan Bennett’s drive for many years.
  • The Hobbit (November 28, 2001 –February 9, 2002) by Glyn Robbins from  R. R. Tolkien‘s book
  • Mysteries (February 26, 2002 –May 18, 2002) adaptation by Speir Opera
  • Umoja: The Spirit of Togetherness (June 18, 2002 –August 31, 2002) by Todd Twala, Thenbi Nyandeni and Ian von Memerty
  • Contact (October 23, 2002 –May 10, 2003) by Susan Stroman and John Weildman
  • The Rocky Horror Show(June 23, 2003 –July 5, 2003) by Richard O’Brien, starring Jonathan Wilkes and John Stalker
  • Cyberjam (September 23, 2003 –January 3, 2004)
  • The RSC’s The Taming of the Shrew (January 15, 2004 –March 6, 2004) by William Shakespeare
  • The RSC’s The Tamer Tamed (January 22, 2004 –March 6, 2004) by John Fletcher
  • Les Misérables (April 12, 2004 —July 13, 2019, December 18, 2019 –) by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg
  • Les Misérables – The Staged Concert (December 5, 2020 – February 28, 2021)

Sondheim Theatre:  51 Shaftesbury Avenue  corner Wardour Street, City of Westminster, London W1D 6BA, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 344 482 5151.  Coordinates: 51.511944°N 0.132778°W.

How to Get There: The nearest train station is Charing Cross while the nearest tube station is Piccadilly Circus (take Shaftesbury Avenue along where the famous illuminated signs are. The theatre will be on your left about 100 m. along, just after the Gielgud Theatre).

The nearest bus stops are serviced by numbers 12, 14, 19, 38 (Shaftesbury Avenue) and 6, 13, 15, 23, 88, 94, 139, 159, 453 (Regent Street). Night bus numbers: (Shaftesbury Avenue) 14, N19, N38; (Regent Street) 6, 12, 23, 88, 94, 139, 159, 453, N3, N13, N15, N109, N18, N136.

Leicester Square (London, England, UK)

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Leicester Square

On our third day in London, we all woke up early and, after breakfast, walked all the way to King’s Cross Underground Station were we took the Piccadilly Tube Line, to Leicester Square Station.  From there, Leicester Square, a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, is just a 5-min.walk away.

The square lies within an area bound, to the north, by Lisle Street; to the east by Charing Cross Road; to the south by Orange Street; and to the west by Whitcomb Street. The park at the centre of the square is bound, to the north, by Cranbourn Street; to the east by Leicester Street; to the south by Irving Street and; to the west, by a section of road designated simply as Leicester Square.

Shakespeare Fountain and Statue

At the center of the square is a statue of William Shakespeare standing on a pedestal flanked by dolphins at the center of a fountain. Sculpted by Giovanni Fontana (after an original by Peter Scheemakers), since 1874, it formed the centerpiece of Leicester Square Gardens.

VUE Theater and the Hippodrome

Laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, the square was named after the Leicester House (itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester). Originally a gentrified residential area for nobles (tenants including Frederick, Prince of Wales and the artists William Hogarth and Joshua Reynolds), the square became more down-market in the late 18th century as Leicester House was demolished and retail developments took place, quickly evolving into a hub for entertainment and culture.

Odeon Theatre

Surrounding the iconic and vibrant square are renowned West End theaters (Wyndham’s Theatre, Leicester Square Theatre, Prince of Wales Theatre, etc.), cinemas, fashion boutiques, music stores, souvenir shops, bars, hotels  and restaurants including a Jollibee store which was opened last May 20, 2021.

Map of the interactive “Scenes in the Square”

Upon arrival at the square, we checked out the interactive “Scenes in the Square,” a film-themed sculpture trail which emphasizes Leicester Square’s long association with cinema. Since 1930, the site has been home to cinemas, hosting its first film premiere in 1937.

TKTS

The free exhibition, depicting recognizable classic and contemporary film characters (some even brought to life, at night, with lighting) from the last 100 years of cinema, was organized by the Heart of London Business Alliance, in partnership with Westminster City Council, and is supported by major movie studios. It originally consisted of 8 quirky bronze sculptures.

Mary Poppins Statue

Grace and Paula with the statue of Mary Poppins in the background

On ground level are the statues of Mary Poppins, with her hat, coat, and her bottomless Mary Poppins Bag (depicted landing from flight with her umbrella raised, as featured in the 1964 film Mary Poppins);Looney Tunes’ Bugs Bunny (depicted popping up out of a hole in a flower bed, in front of his mailbox, while eating a carrot); Gene Kelly (depicted, in his role as Don Lockwood, in the 1952 film Singin’ in the Rain), swinging around a lamppost with his raincoat, hat and umbrella smiling for all to see, in an iconic scene where the character sings the title song in the film (Patricia Ward Kelly, Kelly’s wife, granted permission to make the statue).

Bugs Bunny Statue

Statue of Gene Kelly in Singin’ In The Rain

Seated on a benches in the square are the iconic British and well-loved Paddington Bear (Paddington movies premiered in Leicester Square in 2014 and 2017) wearing his signature hat and duffel coat (but has no boots) and eating one of his favorite marmalade sandwiches) and Mr. Bean, who was portrayed by versatile comic performer Rowan Atkinson on television and in film (its erection also marked 30 years since the character’s first appearance).

Jandy seated besidge Paddington Statue ……

…… and beside statue of Mr. Bean

A number of statue are found above street level.  The statue of DC Comics superhero Batman stands 25 m. (82 ft.) above on the roof of the Odeon Leicester Square cinema, keeping watch over London from the rooftops just like he did in the Batman films.

Batman Statue

Wonder Woman (inspired by a scene from the 2017 film Wonder Woman, in which the title character was played by Gal Gadot), another DC Comics superhero, is depicted breaking through the wall of the Vue West End cinema, wielding her Lasso of Truth (which is lit at night).

Wonder Woman Statue

The legendary comedy duo  Laurel and Hardy, perched on top of the TKTS Booth (the best place in London to get cheap theatre tickets) in the square, representing a famous scene from the 1929 film Liberty where the pair playfully teeter and balance on a ledge on a skyscraper.

Laurel and Hardy in Liberty

On September 30, 2020, a statue of Harry Potter  riding a broomstick (Nimbus 2000) and playing Quidditch (the scene was taken from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone which had its world premiere in Leicester Square in 2001) was installed, becoming the ninth statue in the exhibition. In June 2021, a sculpture of the Iron Throne, from the HBO TV series Game of Thrones, was unveiled to mark 10 years since the release of the first episode.

The author with Harry Potter Statue

In July 2021, to mark the July 16 release of Space Jam: A New Legacy in which the character is part of a basketball team, the statue of Bugs Bunny was modified with a basketball and backboard (features a QR code to unlock online content on social media).

In December 2021, ahead of the release of the film of the same name, a bronze statue of Clifford the Big Red Dog was installed, featuring links to pages where visitors can donate to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. The largest sculpture in the series, measuring 3 m. (9.8 ft.) long and 2 m. (6 ft., 7 in.) high and weighing 600 kgs. (1,300 lbs.), it took a team of 15 people three months to create the sculpture.

On May 31, 2023, a life-sized bronze statue of Indiana Jones, the iconic action movie hero portrayed by Harrison Ford, was added to the collection of famous celebrities immortalized in Leicester Square. The statue, created to coincide with the release of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the latest and final installment of the Indiana Jones film series, was placed in the square in a crate with his fedora and whip. Found near Greggs’s Bakery, it was officially unveiled on June 2023, closer to the movie’s release on June 28.

Charlie Chaplin Statue

There’s also a statue of Charlie Chaplin, sculpted in 1979 by John Doubleday, portraying the actor, comedian and filmmaker in his best-known role, as The Tramp. The four corner gates of the park have one bust each of the scientist Sir Isaac Newton (designed by William Calder Marshall); Sir Joshua Reynolds, the first President of the Royal Academy (by Henry Weekes); John Hunter, a pioneer of surgery (by Thomas Woolner); and William Hogarth, the painter (by Joseph Durham); all famous former residents in the square.

Leicester Square: City of Westminster, Central London WC2H 7LU. 

How to Get There: The nearest London Underground station is Leicester Square, which opened in 1906. London bus routes 24, 29 and 176 run on nearby Charing Cross Road.

Department of Prints and Drawings (British Museum, London, England, U.K.)

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Department of Prints and Drawings

The Department of Prints and Drawings, ranked as one of the largest and best print room collections in existence (alongside the Albertina in Vienna, the Paris collections and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg in Russia), holds the national collection of Western prints and drawings, with its own exhibition gallery in Room 90, where the displays and exhibitions change several times a year. Unlike many such collections, the holdings are easily accessible, to the general public, in the Study Room. 

Gallery entrance

Founded in 1808, the prints and drawings collection, with approximately 50,000 drawings and over two million prints, has grown, since its foundation, to international renown as one of the richest and most representative collections in the world. The collection of drawings, covering the period from the 14th century to the present, includes many works of the highest quality by the leading artists of the European schools.

The collection of prints, covering the tradition of fine printmaking, from its beginnings in the 15th century up to the present, has near complete holdings of most of the great names before the 19th century. Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode, Richard Payne Knight, John Malcolm, Campbell Dodgson, César Mange de Hauke and Tomás Harris have been key benefactors to the department while writer and author Louis Alexander Fagan, who worked in the department from 1869 to 1894, also made significant contributions to the department in form of his Handbook to the Department, as well as various other books about the museum, in general.

The groups of drawings includes works by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo, (including his only surviving full-scale cartoon) as well as Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt, Claude and Jean-Antoine Watteau.  There are also largely complete collections of the works of all the great printmakers including Rembrandt and Francisco Goya.

The Albrecht Dürer  collection consists of 138 drawings (one of the finest in existence) as well as 99 engravings, 6 etchings and most of his 346 woodcuts. 

More than 30,000 British drawings and water colors include important examples of works by William Hogarth, Paul Sandby, J.M.W. Turner, Thomas Girtin, John Constable, John Sell Cotman, David Cox, James Gillray, Thomas Rowlandson, Francis Towne and George Cruikshank, as well as all the great Victorians. The collection also contains the unique set of water colors by John White, a pioneering colonist and the first British artist in America and first European to paint Native Americans.

The approximately million British prints including more than 20,000 satires and outstanding collections of works by William Blake and Thomas Bewick. The great, 11-volume Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires, preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, compiled between 1870 and 1954, is the definitive reference work for the study of British Satirical prints.

Over 500,000 objects from the department are now on the online collection database, many with high-quality images. In 2011, The acquisition of a complete set of Pablo Picasso‘s Vollard Suite was enabled by a donation of £1 million to the museum.

Department of Prints and Drawings: Room 90,British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG, England. Tel: +44 (0)20 7323 8000 and +44 20 7323 8299. Website: www.britishmuseum.org. Open daily, 10 AM – 5 PM (last entry at 4:45 PM) and on Fridays until 8:30 PM (last entry at 8:15 PM).  Admission is free.  Coordinates: 51°31′10″N 0°7′37″W. Entry to the Museum is via the Main entrance on Great Russell Street or the Montague Place entrance.

National Galleries of Scotland: Portrait (Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K.)

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National Galleries of Scotland: Portraits. Sculpted figures of noted Scots, set in niches and designed by William Birnie Rhind, can be found around the corner.

National Galleries of Scotland: Portrait, an art museum  holding the national collections of portraits (some 3,000 paintings and sculptures, 25,000 prints and drawings), all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots, also holds the Scottish National Photography Collection of 38,000 photographs.

The entrance to the museum, guarded by statues of William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, leads to the main entrance hall,

It is part of National Galleries Scotland, a public body that also owns the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh.

The arcaded Main Hall

It is the first in the world to be specially built as a national portrait gallery (the National Portrait Gallery, London, established in 1856, was the first such separate museum in the world but it  did not move into its current purpose-built building until 1896).

The Battle of Stirling Bridge (William Brassey Hole)

The Good Deeds of King David I (William Brassey Hole)

Here’s the historical timeline of the museum:

  • In 1780, the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland was founded by the David Erskine, 11th Earl of Buchan. Its members donated items of interest. The mildly eccentric Erskine also formed a collection of Scottish portraits, many of which are now in the museum.
  • In 1781, the society bought the Antiquarian Society Hall, located between the Cowgate and Parliament Close, just to the west of Old Fishmarket Close, as a place to properly store this material.
  • From 1826, it rented space in the Royal Institution at the foot of The Mound, owned by the Board of Manufactures.
  • By 1851, its collections were in 24 George Street
  • In November 1851, it agreed with the Board to make the collections National Property, with the government to provide continuing accommodation for the collections and for the Society’s meetings.
  • In 1858, as part of the 1851 agreement, the collections were moved back to the Royal Institution.
  • In 1882, John Ritchie Findlay, owner and chief proprietor of The Scotsmannewspaper, endowed a new building on Queen Street, costing £50,000, designed by architect Sir Robert Rowand Anderson to accommodate both the antiquities collections and the portraits of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. That same year, the portrait gallery was established before its new building was completed.
  • In 1885, construction of the building began.
  • In 1889, the building was opened under curator John Miller Gray. When it opened, a large Main Hall, at the center of the façade, formed a shared entrance to the two institutions with Portrait occupying the east wing of the building, and the Museum of Antiquities taking up the west wing.
  • In 1890, the building was completed.
  • In 1985 the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland was amalgamated with the Royal Scottish Museum, and later moved to Chambers Street as part of the National Museum of Scotland.
  • in 2009, the Museum of Scotland (the former National Museum of Antiquities) moved to a new building.
  • In April 2009, the first comprehensive refurbishment in its history, carried out by Page\Park Architects, was undertaken, with funding from the Scottish Governmentand the Heritage Lottery Fund, amongst others. Portrait was expanded to take over the whole building. The gallery spaces were restored to their original layout (removing false walls, lowered ceilings, opening up windows, restoration of the great coved ceilings on the upper floors on the west side, and revealing hidden Victorian details like the elegant stone arcade in the Ramsey Room), with areas set aside for education, a new gallery specially earmarked for photography, the decent size shop & café, and a new glass lift—greatly improving access for disabled visitors. After the changes, Portrait has 60% more gallery space. The cost of the refurbishment was £17.6 million.
  • On December 1, 2011, the museum was reopened with 849 works displayed, of which 480 were by Scots.

Heroes and Heroines Gallery. At left is a portrait of Charles Kenneth Scott-Moncrieff done by Edward Stanley Mercer.

The Modern Portrait Gallery. At right is a portrait of Sir Charles Grant Robertson done by Meredith Frampton

The Remaking of Scotland

The large, symmetrical,  three-level building, at the east end of Queen Street, was built with red sandstone from Corsehill in Dumfriesshire.  It comprises 5,672 sq. m. and is a Category A listed building.

John Ritchie Findlay of Aberlour (George Reid)

Built in Gothic Revival (with a combination of Arts and Crafts and 13th-century Gothic influences) style, it is noted for its ornate Spanish Gothic style (an unusual addition to Edinburgh’s mostly Georgian Neoclassical New Town) with carved, pointed arched windows and a main entrance, on the Queen Street front, surrounded by a large gabled arch.

Jandy beside a portrait of Sir Winston Churchill done by Sir James Guthrie

Grace beneath a portrait of Henry, Prince of Wales done by Robert Peake

The entrance, guarded by statues of William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, leads to the main entrance hall, arcaded with pointed arches, which originally served both Portrait to its east, and the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland to its west. The gallery’s distinctive feature is its four octagonal corner towers topped with crocketed Gothic pinnacles.

Portrait of Mary Queen of Scots done by an unknown artist after Francois Clouet

Another portrait of Mary Queen of Scots also done by an unknown artist

Sculpted figures of noted Scots, set in niches and designed by William Birnie Rhind, can be found around the exterior.  Added in the 1890s, they compensate for the lack of contemporary portraits of medieval Scots in the gallery’s collection at the time.

Henrietta Anne, Duchess of Orleans (Jean Nocret)

General Sir James Hope Grant (Sir Francis Grant)

The large processional or pageant frieze, its mural painted by William Hole inside the main entrance hall balustrade, was added in 1898.  Depicting an array of notable Scots from history in reverse chronological order, these figures were added to the frieze over the years after the gallery opened.

Sir William Brice (John Michael Wright)

Sir Thomas Strange (John Hoppner)

Starting with Thomas Carlyle, it includes David Livingstone, James Watt, Robert Burns,  Adam Smith, David Hume, the Stuart monarchs, Robert the Bruce and  Saint Ninian.  Later, Hole added further large mural narrative scenes on the first floor.

Alexander Henderson (Sir Anthony van Dyck)

David Hume (Allan Ramsay)

The museum’s collection essentially begins in the Renaissance, initially mainly with works, of Scottish royalty and nobility, done by foreign artists, as well as mainly printed portraits of clergymen and writers.

Bust of Arthur Wellesley (Sir John Steell)

Bust of Hugh Miller (William Brodie)

The most notable paintings were mostly made on the Continent, often during periods of exile from the turbulent Scottish political scene. Religious art, as in England, has been all but extinguished by the Scottish Reformation.  Until the 19th century, Scottish painting was dominated by portrait painting, with patrons gradually extending down the social scale and, in the 16th century, most painted portraits are of royalty or the more important nobility.

Bust of Queen Victoria (William Brodie)

Bust of Sir David Wilkie (Samuel Joseph)

A portrait of James IV of Scotland, from 1507, is the oldest work in the collection.  There are also two portraits of Mary, Queen of Scots, one painted some 20 years after her death in 1587, and the other is later still. A number of 19th-century paintings also show scenes from her life. Her three husbands also have portraits, including Darnley by Hans Eworth and an unknown painter, and miniatures from 1566 of Bothwell and his first wife.

Statue of Robert Burns (John Flaxman)

Statue of James Clerk Maxwell (Alexander Stoddart)

There is a portrait of Regent Morton, Mary’s nemesis, by Arnold Bronckhorst from 1581.  Although he only spent about three years there, Bronckhorst is the first artist to hold the title of “King’s Painter” in Scotland. The gallery holds several works by Bronckhorst, and his successor, Adrian Vanson, who were both skilled painters in the Netherlandish tradition. The collection includes portraits, of Stuart monarch James VI and I, by Bronckhorst and Vanson.

George Seton with Sons (Adam de Colone)

Flora Macdonald (Richard Wilson)

George Jamesone (1589/90-1644), the first significant native Scot to be a portrait painter, only once got the chance to paint Charles I, his monarch, when he visited Edinburgh in 1633.  Two Jamesone self-portraits and portraits of the Scottish aristocracy, as well as some imagined portraits of heroes of Scotland’s past. are included in the collection.

Robert Louis Stevenson (Count Girolamo Nerli)

Sir Henry Duncan (George Reid)

There are also three portraits by John Michael Wright, Jamesone’s talented pupil, plus ten aristocratic portraits by Sir John Baptist Medina, the last “King’s Painter” before the Acts of Union 1707.

Elizabeth Hamilton (Sir Henry Raeburn)

David Scott (Tilly Kettle)

The museum has one of the earliest examples of portraits featuring tartan, which begin to be painted in the late 17th century (at that time apparently with no political connotations), a full-length 1683 portrait, by John Michael Wright, of Lord Mungo Murray, son of John Murray, 1st Marquess of Atholl, wearing a belted plaid for hunting.

Lady Anne Hay, Countess of Winton (Adam de Colone)

Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Louis Tocque)

After the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion, the wearing of tartan was banned but, after a few decades, reappears in grand portraits, before becoming ever more popular with Romanticism and the works of Sir Walter Scott. after her arrest for helping Bonnie Prince Charlie to escape after the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion, Flora MacDonald was painted by Richard Wilson , also wearing tartan, in London.

General Thomas Dalyell (L. Schuneman)

Prince James Francis Edward Stuart (Anton Raphael Mengs)

In the 18th century, Scottish portrait painting flourished and Allan Ramsay and Sir Henry Raeburn, with 13 and 15 works respectively, are well represented, Sir Henry Raeburn with many paintings of figures from the Scottish Enlightenment, as well as the recently acquired lost portrait of Charles Edward Stuart.

Self Portrait (Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell)

The career of Sir Henry Raeburn extends into the 19th century, with portraits of Walter Scott and others. The museum owns the iconic portrait, by Alexander Nasmyth, of Robert Burns .

Robert Burns (Alexander Nasmyth)

Self-Portrait (Sir Henry Raeburn)

Sculptor and gem-cutter James Tassie (1735–1799) has the largest number of works, by a single artist, with 58.  With 18th century Scottish high society subjects including Adam Smith, James Beattie and Robert Adam (he disliked having his portrait taken but Tassie was a member of his social circle he did not refuse, with the result that, as with the Naysmyth portrait of Burns, almost all images of Smith derive from the exemplar in the museum), Tassie, along with Irish physician Henry Quin, developed a distinctive format of large fired glass paste (or vitreous enamel) relief “medallion” portraits in profile, initially modelled in wax.

Portrait Medallions (James Tassie)

Despite no such dominant figures, the later 19th century in Scotland had many fine artists, and saw the beginning of photography. A gallery, in the museum, is devoted to the photographs of Glasgow life taken by Thomas Annan. In general, the displays concentrate on the common people of Scotland, especially the images of slums taken from 1868 to 1871.

Tilda Swinton (John Byrne)

Sean Connery (John Bellany)

In the present day, the collection continues to expand, with Scottish painters such as John Bellany (includes a self-portrait and portraits of Peter Maxwell Davies and Billy Connolly) and John Byrne (his works include images of himself, Tilda Swinton, Billy Connolly and Robbie Coltrane).

Womb From Womb (William Crosbie)

Billy Connoly (John Byrne)

Other works in the collection include portraits of James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton (by Daniel Mytens), Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton (by Oskar Kokoschka), Winnie Ewing (by Norman Edgar), Alex Ferguson (by David Mach), Ian Wilmut (by Wendy McMurdo) and Robin Jenkins (by Jennifer McRae).

Library & Print Room

The Library & Print Room has displays that show artistic experimentations with portraiture from the 17th century to contemporary times.  It also houses a wealth of research resources on Scottish portraiture as well as the personal library of American documentary photographer Eve Arnold gifted by her family.

Portrait of King Charles III (Victoria Crowe)

There’s also a collection of about 400 portrait miniatures including works by Nicholas Hillard, John Hoskins and Samuel Cooper.

Photo of Rose Reilly (Jeremy Sutton Hibbert)

National Galleries Scotland: Portrait: 1 Queen Street, Edinburgh EH2 1JD Scotland. Tel: +44 131 624 6200. E-mail: enquiries@nationalgalleries.org. Website: www.nationalgalleries.org. Open daily, 10 AM to 5 PM. Coordinates: 55°57′19.5″N 3°11′36.9″W.

National Gallery of Scotland Modern Two (Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K.)

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National Gallery of Scotland Modern Two

The National Gallery of Scotland Modern Two, formerly the Dean Gallery, is one of the two buildings housing the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, one of Scotland’s national art galleries. Operated by National Galleries Scotland, it is twinned with Modern One which lies on the opposite side of Belford Road.

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The English-Baroque facade

It is home to a changing program of world-class exhibitions and displays drawn from the permanent collection. During our visit, On permanent display is a recreation of the Scottish sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi‘s studio, as well as his magnificent, 7.3 m. high sculpture, Vulcan, that dominates the the Paolozzi’s Kitchen (named after the Scottish sculptor), reaching from the floor to the ceiling.

One of the tower, over staircases, that contain chimneys

The museum is housed in a English Baroque-style building, with Classical detail, which started out as the Dean Orphanage (the subject of a watercolor painting c.1830 by Thomas Hamilton).  Built in Craigleith stone from the nearby quarry, it took three years to build. Contributing to the Edinburgh skyline, in the west of the city center, are the towers, over the staircases, that contain chimneys. Above the entrance is a clock that came from the original Orphan Hospital and, in turn, from the 1764 demolition of the Netherbow Port on the High Street, which formerly separated the High Street from the Canongate.

The exhibit space

For many decades, this building, owned by the City of Edinburgh Council, served as the Dean Education Centre before its conversion into a gallery designed by the architect Terry Farrell and Partners. In 1999, the gallery opened opposite the existing Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. In 2011, both buildings were rebranded Modern Two and Modern One, respectively.

the 73 m. high Vulcan sculpture of Eduardo Paolozzi (1989)

Modern Two houses the Paolozzi Gift, a collection of works by Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, given by the artist to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in 1994, as well as the gallery’s world-famous collection of Surrealism (including works by Salvador Dalí, René Magritte and Alberto Giacometti) and a large collection of Dada and Surrealist art and literature largely made up by the collections of Roland Penrose and Gabrielle Keiller.

Modern Two also houses temporary exhibitions, a library (its great strengths are Dada and Surrealism, early twentieth century artists and contemporary Scottish art), an archive and a special books collection.

Two Lines Up Excentric VI (George Rickey, 1977, stainless steel)

The archive, containing over 120 holdings relating to twentieth and twenty-first century artists, collectors and art organizations, including the gallery’s own papers, holds one of the world’s best collections of Dada and Surrealist material. The special books collection, containing over 2,500 artist books and limited edition livres d’artiste (again with a main focus on Dada and Surrealism), also contains books by other major artists from the twentieth century including Oskar Kokoschka‘s Die Träumenden Knaben (1917) and Henri Matisse’s Jazz (1947), all available to the public in the reading room which is only open to the public by appointment. The Gabrielle Keiller Library hosts regular changing displays that showcase items from these collections.

Master of the Universe (Eduardo Paolozzi, 1989)

Modern Two is surrounded by a sculpture garden with a number of modern and avant-garde works on display, including Gate (1972) by William Turnbull, Two Lines up Excentric VI (1977) by George Rickey, La Vierge d’Alsace (1919–1921) by Emile-Antoine Bourdelle, There will be no Miracles Here (2007–2009) by Nathan Coley, Master of the Universe (1989) by Eduardo Paolozzi, Two Two-Way Mirrored Parallelograms Joined with One Side Balanced Spiral Welded Mesh (1996) by Dan Graham, Macduff Circle (2002) by Richard Long, and Escaped Animals (2002) by Julian Opie.

National Gallery of Scotland Modern Two: 75 Belford Rd, Edinburgh EH4 3DR, United Kingdom.  Tel: +44 131 624 6200.  E-mail: enquiries@nationalgalleries.org. Website: www.nationalgalleries.org.  Open daily, 10 AM to 5PM. Coordinates: 55°57′06.52″N 3°13′26.75″W.

National Gallery of Scotland Modern One (Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K.)

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National Gallery of Scotland Modern One

The National Gallery of Scotland Modern One, with its renowned collection of more than 5,000 items dating from the late 19th century to the present day, is housed in the former Watson’s Institution Building which was designed, in the Greek Doric style, by William Burn (1789-1870) and completed in 1825 as the John Watson School for Fatherless Children of the Professional Classes.  Its five-bay Neo-Classical frontage has a grand, six-columned portico.

The five-bay Neo-Classical frontage

In 1979, the building, with its classrooms and dormitories, was bought by the Crown Estates Commissioners and was successfully adapted, to its new function, from 1981 to 1984.  In 2011, its name was changed to Modern One. Operated by National Galleries Scotland, it is twinned with National Gallery of Scotland Modern Two which lies on the opposite side of Belford Road.

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The museum lobby

International post-war work features art by Francis Bacon, David Hockney, Andy Warhol, Joan Eardley and Alan Davie, with more recent works by artists including Douglas Gordon, Antony Gormley, Robert Priseman and Tracey Emin and an outstanding collection of modern Scottish art.

Ah Kong – Ghost (Rae-Yen Song, 2022)

It presents works from the collection as well as a program of changing exhibitions. The early part of the collection features important Surrealist and German Expressionist art from the beginning of the twentieth century, with paintings by Giacometti, Hockney, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.

Lee Miller (Pablo Picasso, 1937, oil on canvas)

Also included are works by André Derain and Pierre Bonnard, cubist paintings, holdings of expressionist and modern British art, and 20th century Scottish Colourists Samuel John Peploe, John Duncan Fergusson, Francis Cadell and Leslie Hunter.

Glacier Chasm (Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, 1951, oil on canvas)

The collection also includes ARTIST ROOMS, a collection of modern and contemporary art acquired for the nation by National Galleries Scotland and Tate with support from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund and the Scottish and British Governments.

?I Am Your Conduit (2014, thread embedded in handmade cotton paper)

The growing collection includes works by major international artists including Andy Warhol, Louise Bourgeois, Robert Mapplethorpe and Damien Hirst. The collection includes the larger of Roy Lichtenstein‘s In the Car pieces. The displays change on a regular basis.

Self-Portrait (Robert Mapplethorpe, 1980)

In 2002, the lawn to the front of Modern One was re-landscaped to a dramatic, award-winning (it won the prestigious Gulbenkian Prize in 2004) design by architectural historian Charles Jencks (b. 1939) entitled Landform Ueda, an eye-catching work or art in their own right.

Grace Jones (Robert Mapplethorpe, 1984, gelatin silver print on paper)

This sinuous series of grass-covered stepped terraces that rises to form a serpentine mound, with three pools of water occupying crescent-shaped hollows in between.  It also includes the remains of an 18th century windmill.

Tightrope Walker (Paul Klee, 1923, color lithograph on paper) (Copy)

Two Figures (Natalia Goncharova, ca. 1910-20, pencil and crayon on paper)

The sculpture park includes bronze works such as Personnage (1978) and Femme (Woman) (1970) by Joan Miro; Conversation with Magic Stones (1973) by Barbara Hepworth; and Reclining Figure (1951) by Henry Moore; among others.

Conversation with Magic Stones (Barbara Hepworth, 1973, bronze)

Reclining Figure (Henry Moore, 1951, bronze)

The Neo-Classical façade of Modern One is home to Martin Creed‘s Work No. 975, EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT. Modern One backs on to the Water of Leith river and walkway, which can be accessed by a long flight of steep steps behind the Gallery.

Landform Ueda (Charles Jencks)

Personnage (Joan Miro)

National Gallery of Scotland Modern One: 73 and 75 Belford Road, Edinburgh EH4 3DR, Scotland, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 131 624 6200. E-mail: enquiries@nationalgalleries.org. Website: www.nationalgalleries.org. Open daily, 10 AM to 5 PM.  Admission is free.

Museum of the Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment) and the Royal Regiment of Scotland (U.K.)

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Museum of the Royal Scots (Royal Regiment) and the Royal Regiment of Scotland

The small but very well laid-out and informative Museum of the Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment) and the Royal Regiment of Scotland, an independent regimental museum within Edinburgh Castle, displays the collections of the Royal Scots (raised in 1633 to help King Charles II to fight the Covenanters, a 17th century group of religious dissenters) and the Royal Regiment of Scotland. Both are currently co-located in the Royal Scots drill hall built in 1900.

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Army Life 1918-1939

Early Army Life

On June 27, 1991, following refurbishment, the building was re-opened as the Royal Scots Museum by the Princess Royal. Since it was formed in 2006, the Royal Regiment of Scotland has been building its own collection and, on May 29, 2014, the Museum of the Royal Regiment of Scotland was opened.

The Colonies and Empire

Conflict in Europe and Rebellion at Home

Turmoil in Britain

A series of pictorial wall panels, together with dioramas, tableaus, display cases and other exhibits, illustrates the history of the Royal Scots and its successor regiment, the Royal Regiment of Scotland, in chronological order, from the founding of the Royal Scots, by Sir John Hepburn, to its role in various conflicts (including recent campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan) and peacetime.

The Revolutionary War

The Napoleonic War

The Hundred Days

Its nearly 1,000-piece collection includes uniforms, insignias, paintings, artefacts, a collection of silver, a variety of weapons (including Highland broadswords), letters home from foreign campaigns, sets of drums, chemical warfare suits, old colors, maps, medals and documents.

The Great War

The Second World War

The Honors and Awards display has an extensive medal collection including seven Victoria Crosses awarded to members of the Royal Scots. Only a small proportion of the medal collection is on display.  The rest are in drawers which can be opened on request.

Honors and Awards

Drums

Uniforms

Museum of the Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment) and the Royal Regiment of Scotland: Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh, EH1 2YT Scotland. Open daily, 9:30 AM to 4:45 PM (3:45 PM in winter).  Admission is included in the entry fee to the castle. Tel: +44 (131) 3105014. Website:
www.theroyalscots.co.uk/museum/. Coordinates: 55.94913°N 3.20014°W.

How to Get There: The Royal Scots Museum is located at the top of the hill, just before Fogg’s Gate, while the Royal Regiment of Scotland Museum is directly opposite.

National War Museum (Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K.)

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National War Museum Scotland

The two-storey National War Museum, located on the southern side of Hospital Square (at  its center is the large equestrian statue of Marshall Douglas Haig) inside Edinburgh Castle, is a museum (the largest of three within the castle) dedicated to warfare run and managed by the National Museums Scotland.

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Hospital Square and the equestrian statue of Gen. Douglas Haig

Beside the museum is Butts Battery, named after the archery butts (targets) formerly placed here. Below it are the Western Defenses, where a postern, named the West Sally Port, gives access to the western slope of the rock.

25-Pounder Field Gun at the entrance

Opened as the Scottish Naval and Military Museum on May 23, 1933, by Lord High Commissioner John Buchan, in a converted 18th-century ordnance storehouse (built in the 1748 by William Skinner), it was, in 1949, renamed as the United Services Museum, recognizing the importance of the Air Force to the war effort in World War II.

Gallery 1:A Nation in Arms. This comical cherub (ca. 1720), used to decorate the Old Chelsea Bun House (a London coffee shop close to the Royal Hospital), is among the earliest representations of Scots in British military service.

Gallery 2: A Grand Life for a Scotsman

In 2000, the museum was refurbished and, upon reopening was renamed to its present name of the National War Museum. It covers 400 years of Scotland’s military history, from the 17th century, through permanent exhibits that illustrate the history and causes behind the many wars in which Scottish soldiers have been involved, and special exhibitions.

The Thin Red Line (Robert Gibb). It depicts the 1854 Crimean War action between the British forces and the Russian forces.

The building, category-B listed since 1970, has a ten-bay rectangular-plan.  The museum’s collection, housed in six galleries (Gallery 1 and 2 are in the upper floor), includes a wide range of military artefacts, used by Scotland’s armed forces, over many centuries.

Air screw from the Sopwith Baby seaplane flown by Flight Lt. Ronald Graham of the Royal Naval Air Service to shoot down a German seaplane. Note the self-inflicted bullet holes due to lack of an interruption mechanism.

They include broadswords from the Scottish Highlands; protection against chemical warfare; letters sent home from combat by personnel; military uniforms from different eras; documents; battle flags; recruitment posters; photographs (private pics,  official regimental pics, etc.), personal diaries, official documents and an impressive display of medals and decorations. It also houses a library.

A few of the India pattern muskets provided by Sir James Grant in 1794 .

The museum was easy to navigate and the displays were well laid out and presented. However, the dim lighting system made documents and the accompanying labels hard to read and understand as well as view the photos.  At the entrance is a beautifully restored 25-pounder field gun used in World War II.  Artists such as David Wilkie and John Singleton Copley are represented with paintings depicting scenes of military life.

Infantry muskets. At the upper left is a portrait of Lt. Robert Hamilton Buchanan done by an unknown artist.

Gallery 1: A Nation in Arms explores how the division between Highland and Lowland, a long coastline, and access to important sea routes have influenced Scotland’s strategic importance. 

Jacket and Waistcoat

Gallery 2: A Grand Life for a Scotsman explores the daily life of Scots servicemen, from recruitment to retirement.  On display are recruitment posters, uniforms, personal possessions and letters home. 

Medals of Gen. James MacDonell of Glengarry

Gallery 3: Tools of the Trade displays weapons, equipment and clothing that equip the individual for war such as Highland broadswords to modern rifles, protective suits to medical kits. 

Recruitment Posters

Gallery 4: Highland Soldier tells the story of the dramatic change, from Highland rebel to military exemplar, through paintings, Highland uniforms, bagpipe music and more. This gallery houses famous works such as The Thin Red Line by Robert Gibb. 

The Battle of Camperdown (William Adolphus Knell, 1848). The painting depicts the naval action, between the British and Dutch navies in 1797, where the Royal Navy was overwhelmingly victorious

Gallery 5: In Defense displays medals, mementoes, souvenirs and photographs that tell the stories of the men and women who protected Scotland on the home front. 

The Storming of Tel-el Kebir (Alphonse Marie de Neuville, 1883). It depicts the decisive moment when, after a night march, the British forces stormed the Egyptian defenses in 1882.

Gallery 6: Active Service offers a personal perspective of over 300 years of warfare through collections of medals, memorabilia and weapons relating to extraordinary individuals.

Ship’s Bell of HMS Edinburgh, a Town-class cruiser (the same as H.M.S Belfast) built on the Tyne at the Swan & Hunter shipyard, that saw much action in the North Sea and Arctic Sea before being sunk in 1942 by U-456.

National War Museum: Castlehill, Edinburgh Castle, Old Town area, Edinburgh, EH1 2NG Scotland. Tel: +44 300 123 6789.  Open daily, 9:45 AM – 5:45 PM (4:45 PM, October to March).  Admission to the museum is included in the entry charge for the castle.

Edinburgh Castle (Scotland, U.K.)

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Edinburgh Castle

The historic  Edinburgh Castle, which stands on the 130 m. (430 ft.) high Castle Rock (a crag formed from the plug of an extinct volcano, is located at the top of the Royal Mile, at the west end of Edinburgh’s Old Town. Occupied by humans during the late Bronze Age or early Iron Age, potentially making the Castle Rock the longest continuously occupied site in Scotland), it is a castle that has played a prominent role in Scottish history serving, variously, as a royal residence (until 1633), an arsenal, a treasury, a national archive, a mint, a prison, a military fortress, a military garrison (by the 17th century), and the home of the Honours of Scotland (the Scottish regalia).

Castle seen from the Esplanade

Edinburgh Castle, one of the most important strongholds in the Kingdom of Scotland, was involved in many historical conflicts from the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century to the Jacobite rising of 1745.

Main Gate. Above the gate is inscribed with the Latin motto Nemo me impune lacessit  and, flanking it, are statues of Robert the Bruce and William Wallace, both added in 1929

Cared for by the Historic Environment Scotland, it is Scotland’s most (and the United Kingdom‘s second most) visited paid tourist attraction, with over 2.2 million visitors in 2019.  Over 70% of leisure visitors to Edinburgh visit the castle. During the annual Edinburgh Festival, the castle, a recognizable symbol of Edinburgh in particular and of Scotland as a whole, is the backdrop to the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, a parade of the massed pipes and drums of the Scottish regiments started in 1950.

Statue of William Wallace (Alexander Carrick)

The castle is the site of the Scottish National War Memorial, the National War Museum and  the regimental museums of the Royal Regiment of Scotland and the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (the castle is their regimental headquarters), along with that of the Royal Scots. The British Army is still responsible for some parts of the castle, although its presence is now largely ceremonial and administrative. Over the past century and a half, various restoration programs have been carried out.

Statue of Robert the Bruce (Thomas Clapperton)

Edinburgh Castle, in the ownership of the Scottish Ministers as heads of the devolved Scottish Government, is run and administered, for the most part, by Historic Environment Scotland, an executive agency of the Scottish Government, while the Army still remains responsible for some areas, including the New Barracks block and the military museums. Both also share use of the Guardroom immediately inside the castle entrance.

The castle has become a recognizable symbol of Edinburgh, and of Scotland. It appears, in stylized form, on the coats-of-arms of the City of Edinburgh Council and the University of Edinburgh. Images of Edinburgh Castle are used, as a logo, by organizations including Edinburgh Rugby, the Edinburgh Evening News, Hibernian F.C. and the Edinburgh Marathon. It also appears on the “Castle series” of Royal Mail postage stamps. The castle is also a focal point for annual fireworks displays which mark Edinburgh’s Hogmanay (New Year) celebrations, and the end of the Edinburgh Festival in the summer.

Forewall Battery

Few of the present buildings pre-date the Lang Siege of 1573 (in its 1,100-year history, it underwent 26 sieges, giving it a claim to having been “the most besieged place in Great Britain and one of the most attacked in the world”) when the medieval defenses were largely destroyed by artillery bombardment. The most notable exceptions are St Margaret’s Chapel (from the early 12th century, is regarded as the oldest building in Edinburgh), the Royal Palace, and the early 16th-century Great Hall.

Argyle Tower

Before entering the castle, you first pass the Esplanade. long sloping forecourt in front of the castle. Originally the Spur, a 16th-century hornwork, was located here and, in 1753, was laid out as a parade ground (extended in 1845). The Edinburgh Military Tattoo (since 2010 the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo) takes place here, annually, in August, attracting an annual audience of around 217,000 people, and broadcasted, in some 30 countries, to a television audience estimated at 100 million.

The climax of the evening is the lone piper, on the castle battlements, playing a pibroch in memory of dead comrades-in-arms.  This is followed by massed bands joining in a medley of traditional Scottish tunes. From the Esplanade the Half Moon Battery is prominent, with the Royal Palace to its left.

The author at Portcullis Gate

At the head of the Esplanade is the Gatehouse  built as an architecturally cosmetic addition to the castle in 1888. Above the gate is inscribed with the Latin motto Nemo me impune lacessit  and, flanking it, are statues of Robert the Bruce (by Thomas Clapperton) and William Wallace (by Alexander Carrick), both added in 1929. The dry ditch in front of the entrance was completed in its present form in 1742.

Argyle Battery

Within the Gatehouse  are offices and, to the north, is the ticket office, the most recent addition to the castle, completed in 2008 to a design by Gareth Hoskins Architects. A road, built by James III in 1464 for the transport of cannon, leads upward and around to the north of the Half Moon Battery and the Forewall Battery, to the Portcullis Gate, begun by the Regent Morton after the Lang Siege of 1571–73 to replace the round Constable’s Tower destroyed during the siege. The Argyle Tower, a Scots Baronial tower at the upper part of the Gatehouse, was designed by the architect Hippolyte Blanc and built in 1886–1887.

Mills Mount Battery

Just inside the gate, overlooking Princes Street, is the Argyle Battery, with Mills Mount Battery (where the One O’Clock Gun is located), to the west. Below these is the Low Defense while, at the base of the rock, is the ruined Wellhouse Tower, built in 1362 to guard St. Margaret’s Well, a natural spring that provided an important secondary source of water for the castle (its water being lifted up by a crane mounted on a platform known as the Crane Bastion).

Jandy beside a 25-pounder howitzer

To the north and west of the Argyle Tower are military buildings erected, in the early 18th century, after the castle became a major garrison. Tea rooms, adjacent to Mills Mount, were originally 18th-century cart sheds. To the south is the Governor’s House which now functions as an officers’ mess, and as the office of the Governor since the restoration of the post in 1936..  Built in 1742 as accommodation for the Governor, Storekeeper, and Master Gunner, it was used until the post of Governor became vacant in the later 19th century.  Later it was then used by nurses of the castle hospital.

The Governor’s House

The New Barracks, south of the Governor’s House, was completed in 1799 to house 600 soldiers, replacing the outdated accommodation in the Great Hall. It now houses the Regimental Headquarters of the Royal Regiment of Scotland and the Regimental Headquarters of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys) as well as the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Museum (opened in 1995 by, Queen Elizabeth II, the regiment’s Colonel). Nearby is the Regimental Museum of the Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment) in the former Royal Scots drill hall, constructed in 1900.

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Regimental Museum of the Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment)

The military prison, built in 1842 as a detention block for the castle garrison, was extended in the 1880s and was last used in 1923, when the garrison moved to the city’s Redford Barracks.  West of the Governor’s House is a store for munitions was built in 1747–48 and later extended to form a courtyard, in which the main gunpowder magazine also stood.

Military Prison

South of this courtyard is now the National War Museum of Scotland which covers Scotland’s military history over the past 400 years.  Forming part of the National Museums of Scotland, its exhibits (including a wide range of military artefacts, such as uniforms, medals and weapons) also illustrates the history and causes behind the many wars in which Scottish soldiers have been involved.

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National War Museum Scotland

Beside the museum is Butts Battery, named after the archery butts (targets) formerly placed here and, below it, are the Western Defenses, where a postern, named the West Sally Port, gives access to the western slope of the rock.

Foog’s Gate

The Upper Ward (or Citadel), occupying the highest part of the Castle Rock, is entered via the late 17th-century Foog’s Gate. Large cisterns, built to reduce the castle’s dependency on well water, and a former fire station (now used as a shop), are both adjacent to the gates.

St. Margaret’s Chapel

The small St. Margaret’s Chapel and Mons Meg, 15th-century siege gun or bombard, occupy the summit of the rock. The oldest building in the castle and in Edinburgh, St. Margaret’s Chapel is one of the few 12th-century structures surviving in any Scottish castle.  It dates from the reign (1124–1153) of King David I who built it as a private chapel, dedicated to Saint Margaret of Scotland, his mother, who died in the castle in 1093) for the royal family.

Interior of St. Margaret’s Chapel

It survived the slighting of 1314 (when the castle’s defenses were destroyed on the orders of Robert the Bruce) and, from the 16th century, was used as a gunpowder store when the present roof was built. In 1845, while in use as part of the larger garrison chapel, it was “discovered” by the antiquary Daniel Wilson and, in 1851–1852, was restored and still used for religious ceremonies such as weddings.

Mons Meg

In front of St. Margaret’s Chapel, resting on a reconstructed carriage (details copied from an old stone relief that can be seen inside the tunnel of the Gatehouse at the castle entrance) and displayed on a terrace, is the 13,000-pound (5.9-ton) gun Mons Meg, constructed in 1449 in Flanders, on the orders of Philip III, Duke of Burgundy, and given, as a gift, to King James II (the husband of his niece), in 1457. Displayed alongside it are some of Meg’s large gun stones, weighing around 330 lbs. (150 kgs.) each.

Meg’s large gun stones

On July 3, 1558, when it was fired, in salute, to celebrate the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots, to François II, the French dauphin. It has been defunct since On October 30, 1681 when the gun barrel burst while firing a salute to greet the Duke of Albany (the future King James VII and II) on his arrival in Edinburgh..

Lang Stairs

Below this area, on a ledge, is a small 19th-century Dogs’ Cemetery for the burial of the soldiers’ regimental mascots. Besides this is the Lang Stair that leads down to the Argyle Battery, past a section of a medieval bastion, and gives access to the upper storey of the Argyle Tower. The Forewall and Half Moon Batteries occupy the eastern end of the Upper Ward, with Crown Square to the south.

Half Moon Battery

The Half Moon Battery, a prominent feature on the east side of the castle, was built around and over the ruins of David’s Tower, two storeys of which survive beneath, with windows facing out onto the interior wall of the battery.  It was erected between 1573 and 1588 and built as part of the reconstruction works supervised by the Regent Morton. The Forewall, to the north, was built between 1689 and 1695 to link the Half Moon to the Portcullis Tower, although part of the original wall of 1540 was incorporated into it.

David’s Tower

David’s Tower was rediscovered, in 1912, during routine maintenance work and excavations below the Half Moon Battery revealed the extent of the surviving buildings. Built on an L-plan, it has a 16 by 12 m. (51 by 38 ft.) main block, with a 6.4 by 5.5 m. (21 by 18 ft.) wing to the west. It is entered via a pointed-arched doorway in the inner angle although, in the 16th century, this was filled in to make the tower a solid rectangle. Although the lower parts are generally closed, several rooms were accessible to the public.

Crown Square

Crown Square (also known as Palace Yard), laid out in the 15th century (during the reign of King James III) as the principal courtyard of the castle, is formed by the Royal Palace to the east, the Great Hall to the south, the Queen Anne Building to the west, and the National War Memorial to the north.

Laich Hall at the Royal palace

The Royal Palace, comprising the former royal apartments (the residence of the later Stewart monarchs), was begun in the mid-15th century (during the reign of James IV) and was extensively remodeled, in 1617, for the visit of James VI to the castle, when state apartments for the King and Queen were built. On the ground floor is the Laich (Low) Hall (now called the King’s Dining Room) and the Birth Chamber (or Mary Room), a small room where, on June 19, 1566, James VI was born to Mary, Queen of Scots. The commemorative painted ceiling, and other decorations, were added in 1617.

Portrait of Mary Queen of Scots at the Birth Chamber

Portrait of King James VI

The vaulted Crown Room, on the first floor, was built in 1615 to house the Honours of Scotland: the crown, the scepter and the sword of state. Since its return to Scotland in 1996, the Stone of Scone, where the monarchs of Scotland were traditionally crowned, has been kept in the Crown Room. The Register House, to the south of the palace, was built in the 1540s to accommodate state archives.

The Great Hall

The 29 by 12.5 m. (95 by 41 ft.) Great Hall, the chief place of state assembly in the castle (although there is no evidence that the Parliament of Scotland ever met there), is usually ascribed to the reign of King James IV, and is thought to have been completed in the early years of the 16th century.

Hammerbeam ceiling inside the Great Hall

One of only two medieval halls in Scotland with an original hammerbeam roof, it has decorative, carved stone corbels, supporting the roof, with Renaissance detailing which has been compared to ca. 1515 works at Blois, France, indicating that the arts in Scotland were relatively advanced at this time.  Still occasionally used for ceremonial occasions, the Great Hall has been used as a venue on Hogmanay for BBC Scotland‘s Hogmanay Live program.

Queen Anne Building

The present Queen Anne Building, on the south side of the castle, was named after Queen Anne. It was built in 1713 and designed by Capt. Theodore Dury, military engineer for Scotland (he also designed Dury’s Battery, named in his honor).

Dury’s Battery

It initially provided accommodation for Staff Officers but, after the departure of the Army, it was remodeled to complement the newly opened Scottish National War Memorial) as the Naval and Military Museum in the 1920s. Today, the building now houses a function suite and an education center.

Scottish National War Memorial

The Scottish National War Memorial, occupying a converted barrack block on the north side of Crown Square, is maintained by a charitable trust.  It commemorates Scottish soldiers, and those serving with Scottish regiments, who died in the two world wars and in more recent conflicts. The building, its exterior decorated with gargoyles and sculpture, has an interior that contains monuments, to individual regiments, and stained-glass windows by Douglas Strachan.

Check out “Scottish National War Memorial”

Within the Shrine is an altar, placed upon the highest point of the Castle Rock, with a sealed casket containing Rolls of Honor which lists over 147,000 names of those soldiers killed in World War I, plus 50,000 names from World War II. Further names continue to be added to the Rolls of Honor.

Redcoat Cafe

At precisely 1 PM (except Sundays, Good Friday and Christmas Day), the One O’Clock Gun is fired, every day, from Mill’s Mount Battery (formerly from the Half Moon Battery), on the north face of the castle, by the District Gunner from the 105th Regiment Royal Artillery. Established in 1861 as a time signal for ships in the harbor of Leith and the Firth of Forth, 3 kms. (2 mi.) away, the gun is no longer required for its original purpose but the ceremony has become a popular tourist attraction.

The One O’Clock Gun

Its original gun was an 18-pound muzzle-loading cannon (which needed four men to load).  In 1913, it was replaced by a 32-pound breech-loader and, in May 1952, by a 25-pound Howitzer. On November 30, 2001, the present One O’Clock Gun, an L118 Light Gun, was brought into service. A small exhibition, at Mill’s Mount, was established by the  One O’Clock Gun Association and Staff Sergeant Thomas McKay MBE (nicknamed “Tam the Gun“), the longest-serving District Gunner (from 1979 until his retirement in January 2005).

Hospital

Gift Shop

Edinburgh Castle: Castle Rock, Edinburgh, EH1 2NG Scotland. Tel: +44 131 225 9846.  Website: www.edinburghcastle.scot. Open daily, 9:30 AM to 6 PM (April to September) and 10 AM to 4 PM (October to March). Closed December 25 and 26. Admission:

  • Adult (16-64 years old): £21.50 (online), £24.00 (walk-up)
  • Concession (65 years+ and unemployed): £17.00 (online), £19.00 (walk-up)
  • Child (7-15 years old): £13.00 (online), £14.50 (walk-up)
  • Adult Flexi Ticket: £35.00 (online)
  • Concession Flexi Ticket: £28.00 (online)
  • Child Flexi Ticket: £21.00 (online)
  • Family (1 adult, 2 children): £42.50 (online), £47.50 (walk-up)
  • Family (2 adults, 2 children): £62.00 (online), £69.50 (walk-up)
  • Family (2 adults, 3 children): £74.00 (online), £82.00 (walk-up)

Church of St. Cuthbert and Graveyard (Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K.)

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St. Cuthbert Parish Church

The historic parish church of St Cuthbert, and its graveyard, are a significant part of Edinburgh’s heritage (the church has been a Category A listed building since 1970) that are both well-maintained.  The church, on the oldest continually used site of worship in the whole city, a parish church of the Church of Scotland.  The earliest church on the site was said to have been founded by St. Cuthbert around 670 AD.

The graveyard beside the church

Partly due to its closeness to Edinburgh Castle, the church was, at different times, caught in cannon crossfire between opposing armies, suffering severe damage or being destroyed as a result and it is believed that there have been seven churches built on its site. The present church of St Cuthbert’s, built in the Baroque and Italian Renaissance style, was designed (except for the steeple of the previous church which was retained), by Hippolyte Blanc and built between 1892 and 1894. It is apparently quite beautiful inside, with stained glass windows by Louis Comfort Tiffany, Douglas Strachan, and Ballantyne & Gardiner; mural paintings by Gerald Moira and John Duncan; and memorials by John Flaxman and George Frampton.  However, on this particular day, it was closed to visitors.

The twin, 3-storey Baroque towers with the old steeple in between

The church, divided into upper and lower levels by a continuous course of ashlar dressings, has a roughly dressed and snecked, cream sandstone exterior, with every corner decorated with half-fluted Corinthian pilasters, on the upper stage (pierced with round-arched windows, with architraves  supported by half-fluted Corinthian pilasters, of each of the four western bays), and quoining on the lower (each bay pierced by an oblong window below a corniced architrave). The slated roof rests at a shallow pitch. The near-identical north and south elevations terminate with square-based, three-storeyed Baroque towers on the east sides of the transepts.

One of the twin, Baroque-style towers

The church itself was where the almost 40-year old crime writer Agatha Christie married the 26-year old (a nearly 14-year age gap which was considered scandalous by some at that time) archaeologist Max Mallowan, her second husband, in 1930, a runaway affair, with the couple eloping northwards, from England to Edinburgh, where the service was conducted without friends or family, and just two strangers brought off the street to act as witnesses to the ceremony.

The large graveyard, near Edinburgh Castle, is believed to be on the oldest Christian site in Edinburgh.  The graveyard is impressive, containing hundreds of monuments worthy of notice, including one to John Grant of Kilgraston (near Perth), and a number of graves that are worth examining as it holds the remains of notable individuals like Thomas De Quincey (1785–1859, author of Confessions of an English Opium-Eater) and John Napier. The first reference to a graveyard here is recorded as being in 1595.

The graveyard

The mathematician John Napier (1550–1617) discovered logarithms and invented ‘Napier’s Bones’ (because the instruments were originally carved from bone or ivory), a device for easily calculating large sums, a precursor to the pocket calculator. He is buried in an underground vault on the north side of the church (reburied after destruction of the kirkyard of St. Giles to build Parliament House).

The three-bay Gothic mausoleum of the Gordons of Cluny, by David Bryce contains the tomb of Cosmo Gordon of Cluny FRSE (1736–1800), a politician and co-founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1783.

Obelisks used to mark the graves of notable individuals and families

Robert Tait McKenzie, a Canadian doctor and sculptor, created the memorial known as The Call 1914, in nearby Princes Street Gardens, which commemorates the Scots soldiers who were killed or injured during the First World War. His heart is buried in St Cuthbert’s kirkyard, with a small decorative plaque commemorating his life. Mackenzie originally wanted to be buried in front of the memorial after his death.

Sir Henry Raeburn (1756–1823), one of Scotland’s foremost portrait painters in the eighteenth century, is buried on the eastern wall of the graveyard. Another artist buried here is Alexander Nasmyth (1758–1840), also an architect and inventor, whose most notable painting is the much-copied portrait of Robert Burns. His son, James Nasmyth, also a prolific inventor, is most famous for the steam hammer while his other son, Patrick Nasmyth continued the family line as an artist of note.

Also buried here is Jessie MacDonald, granddaughter of Flora MacDonald (who helped Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Young Pretender of the Jacobite Uprisings, escape Scotland after his defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746), and George Meikle Kemp (1795–1844), the self-taught architect and master joiner whose major gift to the city of Edinburgh was the Scott Monument, the “Gothic rocket’’ of in Princes Street Gardens.

Other noteworthy burials in the graveyard include:

Many were also buried within the church. They include William Paul (1754–1802), Chaplain in Ordinary to George III; and Sir James Rocheid of Inverleith (1715–1787).

West of the transept, on the north side, are steps that descend to a round-arched doorway, in the basement level, that lead to the Nisbet of Dean burial vault. Buried here is Henrie Nisbet of Dean (died 1609) and his son William Nisbet of Dean. Henrie was Provost of Edinburgh, from 1592 to 1593, while William was twice Provost of Edinburgh 1615 to 1619 and 1622 to 1623. Constructed in 1692, it was retained during the construction of the current church and its predecessor.

Dog sculpture commemorating Edinburgh’s sister city of San Diego (California, USA) and their respective celebrity dogs (Greyfriar’s Bobby, of Edinburgh, and Bum of San Diego)

St, Cuthbert Church Graveyard: 5 Lothian Road, New Town, Edinburgh, EH1 2EP, Scotland.