Page 96 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Europe

94  BRIT AIN AND IRELAND

The view from the top of Calton Hill, Edinburgh
7 Scottish National the structure was started in 1822, remodeled in the 1670s for
Portrait Gallery but funds soon ran out and it Charles II. The Royal Apartments
was never finished. Nearby, the
(including the Throne Room and
1 Queen St. Tel 0131-624 6200. Open Nelson Monument commem- Royal Dining Room) are used for
10am–5pm daily. Closed Dec 25 & 26. orates the British victory at investitures and for banquets. A
7 - = ∑ nationalgalleries.org Trafalgar. The Classical theme chamber in the so-called James
continues with Duncan’s V tower is believed to have
The Portrait Gallery is housed in Monument and the old City been the scene of David Rizzio’s
a red-sandstone, Gothic-revival Observatory, designed by murder in 1566. He was the
building, which was restored William Playfair in 1818 and Italian secretary of Mary, Queen
between 2009 and 2011. It based on the Tower of the Winds of Scots. She witnessed the
owns a wonderful collection of in Athens. The Astronomical grisly act, which was authorized
paintings that details the history Society of Edinburgh arranges by her jealous husband, Lord
of 12 generations of Stuarts, from tours and free lectures here. Darnley. Bonnie Prince Charlie,
the time of Robert the Bruce to last of the Stuart pretenders
Queen Anne. It also houses to the English throne, also
portraits of famous Scots, 9 Palace of held court at Holyrood Palace,
including one of the country’s Holyroodhouse in 1745. The Queen’s Gallery
best-loved poet Robert Burns has an interesting program
(1759–96) by Alexander Nasmyth. East end of the Royal Mile. Tel 0131- of art exhibitions.
Others portrayed include Flora 556 5100. Open daily. Closed Dec 25 The adjacent Holyrood Park,
MacDonald, who helped Bonnie & 26. & 7 limited. a former royal hunting ground,
∑ royalcollection.org.uk
Prince Charlie escape after his is home to three lochs, a large
defeat by the English in 1745, number of wildfowl, and the
and Ramsay MacDonald, who Queen Elizabeth II’s official Salisbury Crags. Its high point is
became Britain’s first Labour Scottish residence was built the hill known as Arthur’s Seat,
prime minister in 1924. by James IV in the grounds of an extinct volcano and well-
The building also holds the an abbey in 1498. It was later known Edinburgh landmark.
Scottish National Photography the home of James V and his The name is probably a
collection, which has over wife, Mary of Guise, and was corruption of Archer’s Seat.
30,000 images dating from the
1840s to the present day.
8 Calton Hill
City center east, via Waterloo Pl.
Calton Hill, at the east end of
Princes Street, is a large open
space dotted with Neoclassical
monuments. It has one of
Edin burgh’s more memorable
land marks – a half-finished
“Parthenon”. Conceived as the
National Monument to the
dead of the Napoleonic Wars, The grand 17th-century facade of Holyrood Palace
For hotels and restaurants see pp104–6 and pp107–9

094-095_EW_Europe.indd 94 14/07/16 10:13 am