Portal:Edinburgh

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

The Edinburgh Portal
Welcome! — Fàilte! — Walcome!

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

Lochend Castle Doocot

Lochend Park is a public park in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is situated in the Lochend / Restalrig area, next to Lochend Castle and near Meadowbank Stadium. The loch with its wide range of waterfowl is the main attraction, but there are also historical buildings, a children's play area, and sports areas. The park was awarded a Green Flag in 2012 in recognition of it being a quality greenspace. Within the park there is a 16th-century doocot which is Category B listed. (Full article...)

Selected images

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

Selected transportation article

View of Edinburgh Waverley from the east

Edinburgh Waverley railway station (also known simply as Waverley; Scottish Gaelic: Waverley Dhùn Èideann) is the principal railway station serving Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the second busiest station in Scotland, after Glasgow Central. The station serves as the northern terminus of the East Coast Main Line, 393 miles 13 chains (393.16 miles; 632.7 kilometres) from London King's Cross, although some trains operated by London North Eastern Railway continue to other Scottish destinations beyond Edinburgh. (Full article...)

Selected area article

Moredun is a district in the south-east of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is east of Liberton, while Craigour is situated just to its north.

The estate of Gut-tres or Goodtrees was the family home of James Stewart but it was renamed Moredun House in 1769 by the new owner, David Stuart Moncrieff, in recognition of a hill on his Perthshire estate. The house was acquired in 1923 to convert into a convalescent home for ex-servicemen. It was instead found unsuitable and demolished. The facility was instead created in the form of the Murray Homes for the Scottish Veterans Association in 1929. Part of the estate was also sold in 1924 to create the Moredun Research Institute. (Full article...)

Selected environment article

The Pentland Hills seen from Caerketton Hill

The Pentland Hills are a range of hills southwest of Edinburgh, Scotland. The range is around twenty miles (thirty kilometres) in length, and runs southwest from Edinburgh towards Biggar and the upper Clydesdale. (Full article...)

Did you know?

... that Prince Philip was the first member of the British royal family to fly in a helicopter?
... 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?

Selected arts article

The history of beer in Edinburgh is perhaps the lengthiest of any region of Scotland. Throughout the history of Edinburgh, brewing takes its place as one of the most important and oldest industries. The origin of brewing goes back to the 12th century monks of Holyrood Abbey, who took advantage of the clear spring water for the production of their ale. The brewing industry certainly contributed to Edinburgh's earned moniker of "Auld Reekie" so named due to all the smoke produced by coal and wood burning furnaces and boilers. This is evidenced by the fact that at the turn of the 20th century, Edinburgh had no less than thirty-five breweries churning out this smoke from its maltings and brewhouses. This haze may not have been so noticeable were it not for the density of the buildings and population in such proximity. There are two lists below, one for defunct and one for operational breweries & microbreweries in Edinburgh. (Full article...)

Selected education article

The University of Edinburgh (Scots: University o Edinburgh, Scottish Gaelic: Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as Edin. in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter of King James VI in 1582 and officially opened in 1583, it is one of Scotland's four ancient universities and the sixth-oldest university in continuous operation in the English-speaking world. The university played an important role in Edinburgh becoming a chief intellectual centre during the Scottish Enlightenment and contributed to the city being nicknamed the "Athens of the North".

The three main global university rankings (ARWU, THE, and QS) all place Edinburgh within their respective top 40. It is a member of several associations of research-intensive universities, including the Coimbra Group, League of European Research Universities, Russell Group, Una Europa, and Universitas 21. In the fiscal year ending 31 July 2023, it had a total income of £1.341 billion, of which £339.5 million was from research grants and contracts. It has the third-largest endowment in the UK, behind only Cambridge and Oxford. The university occupies five main campuses in the city of Edinburgh, which include many buildings of historical and architectural significance such as those in the Old Town. (Full article...)

Selected sports article

The Inverleith Sports Ground is a rugby union stadium in Inverleith, Edinburgh, Scotland which is the home ground of amateur club Stewart's Melville RFC and was the home ground of the Scotland national rugby union team between 1899 and 1925. (Full article...)

Selected religion article

The Church of Scotland offices are located in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland (in the New Town) at 121 George Street. These imposing buildings are popularly known in Church circles as "one-two-one". They were designed in a Scandinavian-influenced style by the architect Sydney Mitchell and built in 1909-1911 for the United Free Church of Scotland. Following the union of the Church of Scotland and the United Free Church of Scotland in 1929 the church offices were henceforth used by the newly united church.

A matching extension, incorporating a ground floor bookshop, was built in the 1930s on the east side (119 George Street). A proposed matching extension on the west side (replacing the still-existing buildings at 123 George Street) was never built. 123 George Street is, however, owned by the Church of Scotland and has been incorporated into the offices. The church offices also incorporate a chapel near the main entrance and a staff canteen in the basement. (Full article...)

Related portals

Topics

In the news

No recent news

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Commons
Free media repository
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals
Wikidata
Free knowledge base
Wikinews
Free-content news
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations
Wikisource
Free-content library
Wikiversity
Free learning tools
Wikivoyage
Free travel guide
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus

Discover Wikipedia using portals

Purge server cache

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
Category Commons Outline Portal

The Edinburgh PortalWelcome! — Fàilte! — Walcome!