Portal:Edinburgh

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The Edinburgh Portal
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Edinburgh (/ˈɛdɪnbərə/ ^ⓘ Scots: [ˈɛdɪnbʌrə]; Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Èideann [ˌt̪un ˈeːtʲən̪ˠ]) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. The city is located in south-east Scotland, and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth estuary and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh had a population of 506,520 in mid-2020, making it the second-most populous city in Scotland and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom. The wider metropolitan area has a population of 912,490.

Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is the seat of the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament, the highest courts in Scotland, and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. It is also the annual venue of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The city has long been a centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scottish law, literature, philosophy, the sciences and engineering. The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582 and now one of three in the city, is considered one of the best research institutions in the world. It is the second-largest financial centre in the United Kingdom, the fourth largest in Europe, and the thirteenth largest internationally.

The city is a cultural centre, and is the home of institutions including the National Museum of Scotland, the National Library of Scotland and the Scottish National Gallery. The city is also known for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe, the latter being the world's largest annual international arts festival. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the churches of St. Giles, Greyfriars and the Canongate, and the extensive Georgian New Town built in the 18th/19th centuries. Edinburgh's Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999. The city's historical and cultural attractions have made it the UK's second-most visited tourist destination, attracting 4.9 million visits, including 2.4 million from overseas in 2018. (Full article...)

Selected location article

Martello Court is a residential building and one of the tallest buildings in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is 64 metres (210 ft) high, with 23 floors. It is on Pennywell Gardens in Muirhouse, in the north-west of the city.

It was known as the Terror Tower in the 1970s and 1980s because of the crime around it. (Full article...)

Selected images

Image 1Two Edinburgh Trams seen at the West End - Princes Street stop
Image 2The Governor's House
Image 3The Castle Rock
Image 4The Royal Scottish Academy Building
Image 5Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, 2010
Image 6Edinburgh (from Salisbury Crags) by William Crozier, a painter associated with The Edinburgh School
Image 7City Observatory, the Gothic Tower
Image 8Fettes College
Image 9The BT building in Edinburgh Park
Image 10David Hume, Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist born in Edinburgh in 1711
Image 11The Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland in Edinburgh Castle
Image 12Jenners Department Store, the oldest department store in Scotland
Image 13Holyrood Palace, the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland
Image 14Scottish baronial-style turrets on Victorian tenements in St. Mary's Street
Image 15The Scottish Parliament Building
Image 16The ruins of Holyrood Abbey
Image 17Fountain at Holyrood Palace
Image 18Ratho Park Golf Club
Image 19The Princes Street Gardens, the best known park in Edinburgh
Image 20Queensferry Crossing road bridge
Image 21View looking west along George Street
Image 22Sir Walter Scott
Image 23Charlotte Square, a garden square in the New Town
Image 24View over Edinburgh
Image 25The Dean Gallery, part of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
Image 26St Giles' Cathedral, the principal place of worship of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh
Image 27The National Monument of Scotland (right) and Nelson Monument (left)
Image 28Arthur's Seat
Image 29Architecture in Edinburgh
Image 30Calton Hill
Image 31The High Street, part of the Royal Mile

Selected transportation article

A CAF Urbos 3 in Edinburgh, June 2014

The Edinburgh Tram network operates a fleet of CAF Urbos 3 low-floor trams that were specially designed for use in the city. Twenty-seven were built in Beasain, Spain, between 2009 and 2011. (Full article...)

Selected area article

Warriston (/wʌrˈɪsˈtən/ Wau-RIS-tən) is a suburb of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It lies east of the Royal Botanic Garden in Inverleith. The name derives from Warriston House, a local mansion house demolished in 1966.

In July 1600 John Kincaid, the Laird of Warriston was murdered by his wife, Jean Livingstone a daughter of the Laird of Dunipace, her two female servants, and his stable hand. The women were captured and sentenced to be burnt. (Full article...)

Selected environment article

The River Almond and Naismith Bridge in Almondell and Calderwood Country Park

The River Almond (Scottish Gaelic: Abhainn Amain) is a river in Lothian, Scotland. It is approximately 28 miles (45 km) long, rising at Hirst Hill in Lanarkshire near Shotts, running through West Lothian and draining into the Firth of Forth at Cramond, Edinburgh. The name Almond/Amon is simply old Celtic for "river". (Full article...)

Did you know?

... that George Parks was president of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and his son Rowan Parks became president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh?
... that Prince Philip was the first member of the British royal family to fly in a helicopter?

Selected arts article

David Hume by Allan Ramsay, 1754

David Hume (/hjuːm/; born David Home; 7 May NS [26 April OS] 1711 – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish Enlightenment philosopher, historian, economist, librarian, and essayist, who is best known today for his highly influential system of philosophical empiricism, skepticism, and naturalism. Beginning with A Treatise of Human Nature (1739–40), Hume strove to create a naturalistic science of man that examined the psychological basis of human nature. Hume followed John Locke in rejecting the existence of innate ideas, concluding that all human knowledge derives solely from experience. This places him with Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and George Berkeley as an empiricist.

Hume argued that inductive reasoning and belief in causality cannot be justified rationally; instead, they result from custom and mental habit. We never actually perceive that one event causes another but only experience the "constant conjunction" of events. This problem of induction means that to draw any causal inferences from past experience, it is necessary to presuppose that the future will resemble the past, a metaphysical presupposition which cannot itself be grounded in prior experience. (Full article...)

Selected education article

The Transport Research Institute (TRI) is a transportation science facility at Napier University in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Full article...)

Selected sports article

Royal Commonwealth Pool West side

The Royal Commonwealth Pool is a category-A-listed building in St Leonard's, Edinburgh, Scotland that houses one of Scotland's main swimming pools. It is usually referred to simply as the Commonwealth Pool and known colloquially as the 'Commie'. (Full article...)

Selected religion article

Edinburgh Central Mosque (officially known as the King Fahd Mosque and Islamic Centre of Edinburgh) is located on Potterrow near the University of Edinburgh central area and the National Museum of Scotland. The mosque and Islamic centre was designed by Dr. Basil Al Bayati, and took more than six years to complete at a cost of £3.5M. The main hall can hold over one thousand worshippers, with women praying on a balcony overlooking the hall. The mosque holds chandeliers and a vast carpet, with very little furniture.

The architecture combines traditional Islamic features with some Scots baronial style. (Full article...)

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v t e Edinburgh
History	Etymology Burning of Edinburgh Mary, Queen of Scots Greyfriars Kirk Burke and Hare Kingdom of Scotland Act of Union 1707 Parliament of Scotland David Hume Edinburgh Review Holyrood Abbey Treaty of Edinburgh Edinburgh town walls Old Town New Town Robert Adam James Craig Church of Scotland Disruption of 1843 Thomas Aikenhead Deacon Brodie North British Railway Visit of King George IV Sir Walter Scott Edwin of Northumbria Devolution Burgh Lothian Edinburgh Stock Exchange Porteous Riots Silvermills Tron riot Greyfriars Bobby Great Fire of Edinburgh
Governance	City of Edinburgh Council Lord Provost of Edinburgh Scottish Parliament
Buildings and landmarks	Arthur's Seat Balmoral Hotel Brass Founders' Pillar Bute House Calton Hill Craiglockhart Castle Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh International Conference Centre Forth Rail Bridge Forth Road Bridge Governor's House Holyrood Palace National Monument New College Old College Parliament House Princes Street Gardens Ross Fountain Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Scott Monument Scottish Parliament Building St Andrew's House St Giles' Cathedral Victoria Quay
Museums and galleries	Fruitmarket Gallery The Georgian House Museum of Edinburgh National Museum of Scotland National War Museum Dynamic Earth Public art Royal Scottish Academy Scottish National Gallery Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
Theatres and concert halls	Bedlam Theatre Edinburgh Arena (proposed) Edinburgh Playhouse Festival Theatre King's Theatre Queen's Hall Reid Concert Hall Royal Lyceum Theatre St Cecilia's Hall Traverse Theatre Usher Hall
Economy	Bank of Scotland Caledonian Brewery Edinburgh Park Edinburgh BioQuarter Fort Kinnaird Ocean Terminal Royal Bank of Scotland Scottish Widows Standard Life
Transport	A1 road Airport Edinburgh Airport Rail Link Edinburgh City Bypass Edinburgh Crossrail Edinburgh Waverley railway station Haymarket railway station Lothian Buses Trams
Health and education	Edinburgh College Edinburgh College of Art Heriot-Watt University Hospitals Moray House School of Education Napier University Queen Margaret University Schools Scotland's Rural College University of Edinburgh
Festivals	Edinburgh Festival Fringe Edinburgh International Book Festival Edinburgh International Film Festival Edinburgh International Festival Edinburgh International Television Festival Hogmanay Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo
Other topics	Geography of Edinburgh Beer in Edinburgh Graveyards and cemeteries in Edinburgh
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