The New Observatory and Playfair's Monument

Category

Library Item

Item no

18690

Title

The New Observatory and Playfair's Monument, Calton Hill, Edinburgh

Description

The New Observatory sits on top of Calton Hill. The New Observatory has a domed roof in its centre with neoclassical facades with pillars topped by pediments visible on two sides. The Playfair Monument is a rectangular structure with pillars, and marked off with a fence. A number of people are gathered outside including a boy with a dog, a man dressed in a kilt and highland regalia, women dressed in finery.

Artist / maker

Shepherd, Thomas Hosmer

Engraver

Cruse, A

Date

1829

Size

9.4 x 15.3 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 City Observatory is situated on Calton Hill. The central observatory building was designed by W. H. Playfair and completed in 1818. It was built for the Astronomical Institution, founded in 1811-12 with the architect's uncle, John Playfair, as its president. Immediately to the south-west of Playfair's building stands an earlier observatory, now called Observatory House. It was built in the late 18th century for the Leith optician Thomas Short, and was designed by James Craig. The City Dome, a late 19th century addition to the site, stands to the north-east. The observatory is now run by the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh.

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Related subjects

Architecture > Architectural features > Columns

Architecture > Architectural features > Roofs

Architecture > Monuments > Memorial monuments

Natural phenomena > Astronomy > Observatories

Places > Edinburgh areas > Calton

Places > Edinburgh areas > Calton Hill

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

(55°57′18″N, 3°11′0″W)

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