Portal:Edinburgh

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Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. It is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh had a population of 506,520 in 2020, making it the second-most-populous city in Scotland and the seventh-most-populous in the United Kingdom. The wider metropolitan area had a population of 912,490 in the same year.

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 was founded in 1582 and is now one of three universities in the city. The financial centre of Scotland, Edinburgh was in 2020 ranked the second-largest financial centre in the United Kingdom, the fourth-largest in Europe, and the thirteenth-largest in the world in the Global Financial Centres Index.

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, St Giles' Cathedral, Greyfriars Kirk, Canongate Kirk and the extensive Georgian New Town built in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Old Town and the New Town are together listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, and the site has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999. The city's historical and cultural attractions have made it Britain's second-most-visited tourist destination, attracting 5.3 million visits, including 2.4 million from overseas, in 2023. (Full article...)

Selected location article

Main Point, the historic junction of the three roads (2nd l. to r.) to Biggar, Glasgow and Stirling

The West Port is a street in Edinburgh's Old Town, just south of Edinburgh Castle. It runs from Main Point (the junction of Bread Street, Lauriston Street, East Fountainbridge and High Riggs) to the southwest corner of the Grassmarket.

The street takes its name from the westernmost of the "ports" or gates in the Flodden Wall. The gate stood at the Grassmarket and opened onto the suburb of Portsburgh until it was demolished in the 1780s. (Full article...)

Selected images

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

Selected transportation article

The Union Canal, full name the Edinburgh and Glasgow Union Canal, is a canal in Scotland, running from Falkirk to Edinburgh, constructed to bring minerals, especially coal, to the capital. It was opened in 1822 and was initially successful, but the construction of railways, particularly the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, which opened in 1842, diminished its value as a transport medium. It fell into slow commercial decline and was closed to commercial traffic in 1933. It was officially closed in 1965. The canal is listed as three individual scheduled monuments by Historic Scotland according to the three former counties, Midlothian, West Lothian and Stirlingshire, through which it flows.

It has benefited from a general revival of interest in canals and, as a result of the Millennium Link, was reopened in 2001 and reconnected to the Forth and Clyde Canal in 2002 by the Falkirk Wheel. It is now in popular use for leisure purposes. (Full article...)

Selected area article

Chesser (/ˈtʃɛzər/ CHEZ-ər) is a mainly residential suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland, east of the Water of Leith. It, with Longstone, is to the south-west, Allan Park and Craiglockhart to the south, Slateford, Hutchison and Moat to the east, and Gorgie Road to the north. (Full article...)

Selected environment article

Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is traditionally said to have been "built on Seven Hills", in an allusion to the seven hills of Rome. While there is considerable room for debate as to which hills are included and excluded from the seven, seven possibilities are listed in an old rhyme:

The Pentland Hills are also just to the south of the city, and their lower slopes are within the city boundary, especially around Hillend, Swanston and Balerno. Some of the hills are formed from dead volcanoes that last erupted 400 million years ago, and all show the effect of glaciation. (Full article...)

Did you know?

... that, as the University of Edinburgh's chaplain, Harriet Harris appointed more than 40 honorary chaplains to serve traditions including Daoism, humanism, paganism and mindfulness?

Selected arts article

Stevenson in 1893

Robert Louis Stevenson (Louis /ˈluːɪs/ like Lewis; born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for the novels Treasure Island (1883), Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), and Kidnapped (1893), and the poetry collection A Child's Garden of Verses (1885).

Born and educated in Edinburgh, Stevenson suffered from serious bronchial trouble for much of his life but continued to write prolifically and travel widely in defiance of his poor health. As a young man, he mixed in London literary circles, receiving encouragement from Sidney Colvin, Andrew Lang, Edmund Gosse, Leslie Stephen and W. E. Henley, the last of whom may have provided the model for Long John Silver in Treasure Island. In 1890 he settled in Samoa, where, alarmed at increasing European and American influence in the South Sea islands, his writing turned from romance and adventure fiction toward a darker realism. He died of a stroke in his island home in 1894 at age 44. (Full article...)

Selected education article

List of schools in Edinburgh is a list of schools in the City of Edinburgh council area of Scotland. It lists schools both within Edinburgh itself, and in outlying villages within the local government boundary. (Full article...)

Selected sports article

Edinburgh City Football Club is a semi-professional senior Scottish football club which plays in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. The club play at Meadowbank Stadium, returning to the rebuilt stadium in 2022 after five years at Ainslie Park.

A club known as Edinburgh City was first formed in 1928. It participated in the Scottish Football League in the 1930s and 1940s, but went out of business in the 1950s. The present club adopted the Edinburgh City name in 1986. It applied to join the Scottish Football League in 2002 and 2008, but failed to win election on both occasions with Gretna and Annan Athletic being favoured at the time. Edinburgh City became members of the new Lowland League in 2013 and went on to win the Lowland League championship in 2015 and 2016, and won promotion to Scottish Professional Football League in 2016. (Full article...)

Selected religion article

Shown within Edinburgh

The Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, also known as St Mary's Metropolitan Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic church in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh and the mother church of Scots Catholicism. The cathedral church is located at the East End of New Town in the city center. (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 The Dunard Centre (proposed) 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	Demographics of Edinburgh Geography of Edinburgh Beer in Edinburgh Graveyards and cemeteries in Edinburgh
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