Theatre Royal, Edinburgh

Category

Library Item

Item no

18684

Title

Theatre Royal, Edinburgh

Description

The Theatre Royal is a two storey building with three statues on the top. On the ground floor there is a canopy supported by stone pillars. People are gathered outside the theatre, a horse drawn carriage travels along the road, and a man on horseback.

Artist / maker

Shepherd, Thomas Hosmer

Engraver

Wallis, W

Date

1829

Size

10.2 x 14.9 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's Theatre Royal was originally located at the junction of North Bridge and Waterloo Place in Shakespeare Square, no longer extant. After the theatre's demolition in 1859 its patent was transferred to a theatre situated next to St Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral at the junction of Broughton Street, York Place, Leith Street and Leith Walk. The new Theatre Royal suffered several fires in the second half of the 19th century. The building has since been demolished.

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Related subjects

Architecture > Architectural features > Columns

Architecture > Architectural features > Doors and doorways

Architecture > Architectural features > Windows

Places > Edinburgh areas > Old Town

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Sport and leisure > Culture > Theatres

Transport > Land > Horse and carriages

Transport > Land > Horse and riders

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