Portal:Edinburgh

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Edinburgh (/ˈɛdɪnbərə/ ^ⓘ Scots: [ˈɛdɪnbʌrə]; Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Èideann [ˌt̪un ˈeːtʲən̪ˠ]) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. The city is located in south-east Scotland, and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth estuary and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh had a population of 506,520 in mid-2020, making it the second-most populous city in Scotland and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom. The wider metropolitan area has a population of 912,490.

Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is the seat of the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament, the highest courts in Scotland, and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. It is also the annual venue of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The city has long been a centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scottish law, literature, philosophy, the sciences and engineering. The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582 and now one of three in the city, is considered one of the best research institutions in the world. It is the second-largest financial centre in the United Kingdom, the fourth largest in Europe, and the thirteenth largest internationally.

The city is a cultural centre, and is the home of institutions including the National Museum of Scotland, the National Library of Scotland and the Scottish National Gallery. The city is also known for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe, the latter being the world's largest annual international arts festival. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the churches of St. Giles, Greyfriars and the Canongate, and the extensive Georgian New Town built in the 18th/19th centuries. Edinburgh's Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999. The city's historical and cultural attractions have made it the UK's second-most visited tourist destination, attracting 4.9 million visits, including 2.4 million from overseas in 2018. (Full article...)

Selected location article

The Regent, Royal and Carlton Terrace Gardens (informally called Regent Gardens, and previously known as the Calton Hill Pleasure Ground and the Large Garden) are private communal gardens in the New Town area of Edinburgh, EH7. They lie over a 4.8-hectare (12-acre) site on the east side of Calton Hill. The gardens have been listed on the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes as part of the New Town gardens heritage designation since March 2001. The gardens form some of the collection of New Town Gardens. The gardens are secluded high up on the hill, with impressive views southeast over Holyrood to Arthur's Seat and north across the Firth of Forth to Fife. However, the gardens are secluded and the adjacent properties offer the only close-up view of the landscape. They are the largest and most impressively landscaped of all the gardens in Edinburgh's New Town remaining in private ownership. (Full article...)

Selected images

Image 1Ratho Park Golf Club
Image 2The Castle Rock
Image 3Arthur's Seat
Image 4The ruins of Holyrood Abbey
Image 5Edinburgh (from Salisbury Crags) by William Crozier, a painter associated with The Edinburgh School
Image 6Two Edinburgh Trams seen at the West End - Princes Street stop
Image 7The BT building in Edinburgh Park
Image 8The Governor's House
Image 9Queensferry Crossing road bridge
Image 10The Royal Scottish Academy Building
Image 11The Scottish Parliament Building
Image 12David Hume, Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist born in Edinburgh in 1711
Image 13Holyrood Palace, the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland
Image 14View looking west along George Street
Image 15St Giles' Cathedral, the principal place of worship of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh
Image 16The Princes Street Gardens, the best known park in Edinburgh
Image 17The High Street, part of the Royal Mile
Image 18The National Monument of Scotland (right) and Nelson Monument (left)
Image 19Charlotte Square, a garden square in the New Town
Image 20Fountain at Holyrood Palace
Image 21Sir Walter Scott
Image 22Jenners Department Store, the oldest department store in Scotland
Image 23View over Edinburgh
Image 24The Dean Gallery, part of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
Image 25Scottish baronial-style turrets on Victorian tenements in St. Mary's Street
Image 26Fettes College
Image 27Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, 2010
Image 28Architecture in Edinburgh
Image 29City Observatory, the Gothic Tower
Image 30Calton Hill
Image 31The Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland in Edinburgh Castle

Selected transportation article

The Edinburgh City Bypass (A720) skirts the southern fringes of the city. The road was constructed between 1981 and 1990 and opened to motorists in sections. The road is one of the main trunk roads in east central Scotland linking vitally important routes such as the M8, the main route west to Glasgow, the A1, one of the two primary routes south from Scotland to England, and the M9 to Stirling. The City Bypass is linked by the A902 to the A90 leading north out of the city.

Edinburgh itself is the hub of the A-road numbering system within Scotland, and many radial routes lead into and out of the city. Routes radiating from Edinburgh are as follows (in a clockwise direction): (Full article...)

Selected area article

Greenbank is a residential district of south Edinburgh, Scotland. It is situated between the districts of Morningside and Oxgangs, i.e. slightly to the south-west of the heart of Morningside.

The older part of Greenbank consists largely of inter-war period detached houses and bungalows. Since 2003, modern flats and houses have been constructed on the site of the former City Hospital on Greenbank Drive, some of which incorporate parts of the Victorian contagious diseases isolation hospital. The area of the new development has become known as Greenbank Village. (Full article...)

Selected environment article

Castle Rock as seen from Princes Street

Castle Rock (Scottish Gaelic: Creag a' Chaisteil, IPA:[ˈkʰʲɾʲekˈaˈxaʃtʰʲɪl]) is a volcanic plug in the middle of Edinburgh upon which Edinburgh Castle sits. The rock is estimated to have formed some 350 million years ago during the early Carboniferous period. It is the remains of a volcanic pipe which cut through the surrounding sedimentary rock, before cooling to form very hard dolerite, a coarser-grained equivalent of basalt. Subsequent glacial erosion was resisted more by the dolerite, which protected the softer rock to the east, leaving a crag and tail formation.

The summit of the castle rock is 130 m (430 ft) above sea level, with rocky cliffs to the south, west and north, rearing up to 80 m (260 ft) from the surrounding landscape. This means that the only readily accessible route to the castle lies to the east, where the ridge slopes more gently. The defensive advantage of such a site is clear, but the geology of the rock also presents difficulties, since basalt is an extremely poor aquifer. Providing water to the Upper Ward of the castle was problematic, and despite the sinking of a 28 m (92 ft) deep well, the water supply often ran out during drought or siege, for example during the Lang Siege of 1573. (Full article...)

Did you know?

... that George Parks was president of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and his son Rowan Parks became president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh?
... that Prince Philip was the first member of the British royal family to fly in a helicopter?

Selected arts article

Edinburgh's Hogmanay is the celebrations and observance of Hogmanay—the Scottish celebration of the New Year—held in the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh. The fireworks display at Edinburgh Castle are broadcast on television in Scotland, such as BBC Scotland's Hogmanay, as well as Hogmanay celebration broadcasts by STV. (Full article...)

Selected education article

The University of Edinburgh (Scots: University o Edinburgh, Scottish Gaelic: Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as Edin. in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter of King James VI in 1582 and officially opened in 1583, it is one of Scotland's four ancient universities and the sixth-oldest university in continuous operation in the English-speaking world. The university played an important role in Edinburgh becoming a chief intellectual centre during the Scottish Enlightenment and contributed to the city being nicknamed the "Athens of the North".

The three main global university rankings (ARWU, THE, and QS) all place Edinburgh within their respective top 40. It is a member of several associations of research-intensive universities, including the Coimbra Group, League of European Research Universities, Russell Group, Una Europa, and Universitas 21. In the fiscal year ending 31 July 2023, it had a total income of £1.341 billion, of which £339.5 million was from research grants and contracts. It has the third-largest endowment in the UK, behind only Cambridge and Oxford. The university occupies five main campuses in the city of Edinburgh, which include many buildings of historical and architectural significance such as those in the Old Town. (Full article...)

Selected sports article

Redeveloped Meadowbank's pitch, track and small stand in front of indoor sport facility (2023)

Meadowbank Stadium (officially the Meadowbank Sports Centre) is a multi-purpose sports facility located in the Meadowbank area of Edinburgh, Scotland. Built on the site of the earlier New Meadowbank and Old Meadowbank sports venues, it was originally built to host the 1970 Commonwealth Games. It also hosted the Games in 1986, becoming the first venue to host the Games twice. It is the current home of Scottish League Two side Edinburgh City.

The stadium has also regularly hosted football. It was the home ground of Scottish Football League team Meadowbank Thistle between 1974 and 1995, becoming the first all-seated football ground in the UK in the process, and subsequently hosted senior non-league football as the home ground of Edinburgh City. League football returned to Meadowbank in 2016 following City's promotion to the Scottish Professional Football League. The Meadowbank complex also hosts Leith Athletic, who first played on the Meadowbank 3G artificial pitch adjacent to the main stadium between 2013 and 2017. (Full article...)

Selected religion article

The Church of Scotland offices are located in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland (in the New Town) at 121 George Street. These imposing buildings are popularly known in Church circles as "one-two-one". They were designed in a Scandinavian-influenced style by the architect Sydney Mitchell and built in 1909-1911 for the United Free Church of Scotland. Following the union of the Church of Scotland and the United Free Church of Scotland in 1929 the church offices were henceforth used by the newly united church.

A matching extension, incorporating a ground floor bookshop, was built in the 1930s on the east side (119 George Street). A proposed matching extension on the west side (replacing the still-existing buildings at 123 George Street) was never built. 123 George Street is, however, owned by the Church of Scotland and has been incorporated into the offices. The church offices also incorporate a chapel near the main entrance and a staff canteen in the basement. (Full article...)

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v t e Edinburgh
History	Etymology Burning of Edinburgh Mary, Queen of Scots Greyfriars Kirk Burke and Hare Kingdom of Scotland Act of Union 1707 Parliament of Scotland David Hume Edinburgh Review Holyrood Abbey Treaty of Edinburgh Edinburgh town walls Old Town New Town Robert Adam James Craig Church of Scotland Disruption of 1843 Thomas Aikenhead Deacon Brodie North British Railway Visit of King George IV Sir Walter Scott Edwin of Northumbria Devolution Burgh Lothian Edinburgh Stock Exchange Porteous Riots Silvermills Tron riot Greyfriars Bobby Great Fire of Edinburgh
Governance	City of Edinburgh Council Lord Provost of Edinburgh Scottish Parliament
Buildings and landmarks	Arthur's Seat Balmoral Hotel Brass Founders' Pillar Bute House Calton Hill Craiglockhart Castle Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh International Conference Centre Forth Rail Bridge Forth Road Bridge Governor's House Holyrood Palace National Monument New College Old College Parliament House Princes Street Gardens Ross Fountain Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Scott Monument Scottish Parliament Building St Andrew's House St Giles' Cathedral Victoria Quay
Museums and galleries	Fruitmarket Gallery The Georgian House Museum of Edinburgh National Museum of Scotland National War Museum Dynamic Earth Public art Royal Scottish Academy Scottish National Gallery Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
Theatres and concert halls	Bedlam Theatre Edinburgh Arena (proposed) Edinburgh Playhouse Festival Theatre King's Theatre Queen's Hall Reid Concert Hall Royal Lyceum Theatre St Cecilia's Hall Traverse Theatre Usher Hall
Economy	Bank of Scotland Caledonian Brewery Edinburgh Park Edinburgh BioQuarter Fort Kinnaird Ocean Terminal Royal Bank of Scotland Scottish Widows Standard Life
Transport	A1 road Airport Edinburgh Airport Rail Link Edinburgh City Bypass Edinburgh Crossrail Edinburgh Waverley railway station Haymarket railway station Lothian Buses Trams
Health and education	Edinburgh College Edinburgh College of Art Heriot-Watt University Hospitals Moray House School of Education Napier University Queen Margaret University Schools Scotland's Rural College University of Edinburgh
Festivals	Edinburgh Festival Fringe Edinburgh International Book Festival Edinburgh International Film Festival Edinburgh International Festival Edinburgh International Television Festival Hogmanay Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo
Other topics	Geography of Edinburgh Beer in Edinburgh Graveyards and cemeteries in Edinburgh
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