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Calton Hill and the National Disgrace.

Calton Hill, the remnants of an ancient volcano in the very heart of Edinburgh, and a great place for some awesome views all over this part of Scotland.

In addition to views all over Edinburgh, from Princes Street and the castle to Holyrood Park and Arthur’s Seat, views to the north include the wide River Forth to Fife and beyond. Most visitors to Edinburgh will in all probability include Calton Hill on their list of things to see and do. These are views you simply should not miss.

Apart from stunning panoramas, the hill contains some old structures that are themselves tourist attractions, like Nelson’s Monument, the monument to philosopher Duigald Stewart, the Royal – or City – Observatory, and the unfinished National Monument.

Nelson’s Monument takes its name from Lord Nelson, and commemorates his victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. It is no coincidence that it is shaped like a telescope. In the 1850s they added a ball mechanism at the top, and every day the ball would drop to announce to ships in Leith that one o’ clock had arrived precisely. Ship captains could then accurately set their chronometers or time-pieces. Later, the One o’ Clock gun fired from the castle did the same thing, but with sound.

The National Monument was intended as a monument to remember fallen soldiers in the Napoleonic Wars. When finished, it would resemble the Parthenon in Athens, and set Calton Hill off to be utterly stunning, either from the hill itself or from a distance. It was started in the 1820s, and ran out of money in the same decade. Rather than being a National Monument, it became known as The National Disgrace. It now sits on Calton Hill, an unfinished architectural curiosity that serves as a climbing frame for visitors who will simply not know that it was meant to be a memorial to fallen soldiers of the Napoleonic Wars.

Over the years various schemes have been put forward to do something with this unfinished structure. Most involve incorporating it into some modern airy fairy development, and it’s not surprising that none were put in place.

Because in my opinion, the one and only thing we should now do with the National Disgrace is to finish it, and by that I mean complete it as it was meant to be, a replica or copy of The Parthenon in Athens.

Then, and only then, should we be allowed to call it The National Monument.


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#nationalmonument
#edinburgh