The Interior Quadrangle of the Castle, Edinburgh

Category

Library Item

Item no

18663

Title

The interior quadrangle of the Castle, Edinburgh, showing the door leading to the apartment where Queen Mary was confined. Also the room where the regalia was discovered &c

Artist / maker

Shepherd, Thomas Hosmer

Engraver

Hinchliff, J

Date

1829

Size

10.4 x 15.7 cm

Type

Engraving

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

This image comes from 'Modern Athens', a book of engravings based on drawings by Thomas Shepherd published in 1829. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Edinburgh was growing rapidly. The popular neoclassical architectural style of the time was inspired by the ancient Greeks and Romans, and Edinburgh was nicknamed 'Athens of the North'. Shepherd's engravings celebrate the beauty of Edinburgh and show many notable buildings and streets both within the city, and further afield.

Edinburgh Castle is perhaps the city's most famous landmark. It stands on top of the remaining core of an extinct volcano. Excavations suggest the site was inhabited by Bronze Age man as early as 900 BC, and was fortified by Iron Age man roughly 2000 years ago. The oldest part of the present day Castle is St Margaret's Chapel, built in the early 12th century. The Castle holds the Honours of Scotland and more recently has welcomed back the Stone of Scone otherwise known as the Stone of Destiny.

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