Tour Scotland 4K Summer travel video, with Scottish music, of The National Monument of Scotland on Calton hill on ancestry, genealogy, family history visit to Edinburgh, Britain, United Kingdom. The National Monument of Scotland, popularly referred to as Scotland's Disgrace, the Pride and Poverty of Scotland or Edinburgh's Shame, is an unfinished building on Calton Hill in Edinburgh. It is Scotland's national memorial to the Scottish soldiers and sailors who died fighting in the Napoleonic Wars, and was intended, according to the inscription, to be " A Memorial of the Past and Incentive to the Future Heroism of the Men of Scotland ". The monument dominates the top of Calton Hill, just to the east of Edinburgh's New Town. It was designed during 1823 to 1826 by Charles Robert Cockerell and William Henry Playfair and is modelled upon the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. Construction started in 1826 and the building was left in its unfinished state in 1829. Charles Robert Cockerell RA, was born in London, England on 27 April 1788, and died on 17 September 1863, aged 75, He was an English architect, archaeologist, and writer. He studied architecture under Robert Smirke. He went on an extended Grand Tour lasting seven years, mainly spent in Greece. He was involved in major archaeological discoveries while in Greece. On returning to London, he set up a successful architectural practice. Appointed Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy of Arts, he served in that position between 1839 and 1859. He wrote many articles and books on both archaeology and architecture. In 1848, he became the first recipient of the Royal Gold Medal. Whilst in Edinburgh and working on the National Monument with fellow Freemason, William Henry Playfair, Cockerell was Initiated into Scottish Freemasonry in Lodge Holyrood House (St Luke's), No.44 on 18 May 1824. William Henry Playfair was born on 15 July 1790 in Russell Square, London, England. to Jessie Graham and James Playfair. His father was also an architect, and his uncles were the mathematician John Playfair and William Playfair, an economist and pioneer of statistical graphics. After his father's death he was sent to Edinburgh be educated by his uncle John Playfair. He went on to study at the University of Edinburgh, graduating in 1809. He was first articled to the architect William Stark but when Stark died in 1813, he went to London. In the 1830s Playfair is listed as living at 17 Great Stuart Street on the prestigious Moray Estate in Edinburgh's West End. Ironically, this is not a building of his own design, but is by his rival James Gillespie Graham. Playfair joined the Free Church following the Disruption of 1843, losing his right to burial in the parish churchyard. Playfair died in Edinburgh on 19 March 1857, and is buried in the "Lord's Row" on the western wall of Edinburgh's Dean Cemetery, where he designed a number of monuments for others, including Lord Jeffrey.
Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day. Find things to see and do in Scotland where you are always welcome. The date for astronomical Summer in Scotland is Tuesday, 21 June, ending on Friday, 23 September.
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