Dugald Stewart Monument & the City Observatory
Why is it significant?
Catch your breath beside the little round temple on the edge of the hill, and then turn around. There it is: Princes Street running away into the distance, the spire of the Scott Monument, the clock tower of the hotel on the corner, the Old Town piled up along its ridge and the Castle at the far…
Key Facts
| Place | Dugald Stewart Monument & the City Observatory |
|---|---|
| Address | Calton Hill, Edinburgh EH7 5AA, UK |
| Geo Coordinates | 55.95450, -3.18440 |
| Part of Walk | Calton Hill, Edinburgh: Monuments, Martyrs and the Athens of the North |
| Generated | Generated |
Catch your breath beside the little round temple on the edge of the hill, and then turn around. There it is: Princes Street running away into the distance, the spire of the Scott Monument, the clock tower of the hotel on the corner, the Old Town piled up along its ridge and the Castle at the far end. It is probably the most photographed view in Edinburgh, and from here you can pick out North Bridge, where you started.
The temple is the Dugald Stewart Monument, designed in 1831 by William Henry Playfair. It is a version of the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens, a tiny ancient monument to a winning theatre production. Edinburgh liked that model so much that you will see another version of it on this walk.
Dugald Stewart was a professor of moral philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, and his lectures were the place to be in the years around 1800. Students came from all over Britain and from America to hear him. A future prime minister, Lord Palmerston, studied here under him and lived in his house. Stewart did not invent a single famous theory, but he taught a whole generation how to think, which is perhaps a better monument.
Now look behind you at the walled enclosure with its domes. That is the City Observatory, built by Playfair in 1818. The small Gothic tower in its corner is older still, and it was designed by James Craig, the same young man who drew the plan of the New Town. The professional astronomers moved out in the 1890s, because the smoke of Auld Reekie, as Edinburgh was nicknamed, made the sky too murky, though amateur stargazers kept using the domes for another century. Today the site is an art centre called Collective.
Play a little game with the hilltop: how many temples can you see from where you stand? Now walk across the open summit toward the row of giant columns standing on the north-east side of the hill.