The 200’/ 61m Scott Monument which commemorates the well-known Scottish writer, Sir Walter Scott, in Princes Street, Edinburgh, Scotland with Princes Street Gardens and the Old Town in the background, including – left of centre – the crown spire of St Giles’ Cathedral.
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) was an advocate, judge and legal administrator, and also somehow found the time to write many novels, including the narrative poems The Lady of the Lake and Marmion and the novels Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, Waverley, Old Mortality, The Heart of Mid-Lothian and The Bride of Lammermoor. His romantic style of writing, very popular in his time, has since fallen out of fashion, but his legacy may be said to have been the invention of what we now think of as ‘Scottishness’. In particular, his writings did a lot to change the public perception of the culture of the Highlands of Scotland, previously sniffed at as barbarian.
Four years after his death, a competition was held to design an appropriate memorial. The Victorian Gothic design by George Meikle Kemp was chosen. The construction, formed from Binny Sandstone, was completed in 1844, and is the second-tallest memorial to any writer in the world. Centred under it is a statue of Sir Walter Scott by John Steele, out of a single block of Carrera Marble.
This photograph is copyright © Liz Leyden, all rights reserved.
It is for sale as wall art or as various home or personal accessories at Pixels.com.
My original photograph of the Scott Monument, from which the above image is derived, is also available to purchase as a stock photograph from iStock and from Getty Images.
