The other day, I mentioned to a friend about my visit to Scotland. His first gleaming response was, “Ah, the home and origin of world-famous Scotch whiskey!” This region, a part of the United Kingdom of England, with its own strong identity and characteristics, is indeed a treasure trove of architectural heritage and nature’s benevolence.
With a chequered past of battles between them and the English monarchy, the Scots talk with great pride when it comes to their culture and customs, architectural preferences and above all, their landscapes, divided between the mountainous Highlands and flatter Lowlands.
With Edinburgh (said to have its founding roots way back to 1124) as the capital, Scotland has a few more interesting cities such as Glasgow (the most populous), Aberdeen, Sterling, Perth… I had gathered that Edinburgh stands apart due to the unique blend and conservation of the diverse ancient architecture styles, a dynamic literary and cultural heritage, festivals and of course the stunning landscape precincts – and after the visit here, have no hesitation endorsing this observation.
The city of Edinburgh derives a quaint and yet overpowering pulse in the urban design fabric of the well-preserved medieval Old Town and the eighteenth-century Georgian-style New Town, which together are labelled as the UNESCO World Heritage site. Contemporary interventions dramatically yet sensitively find their spaces. A visit here is like getting exposed to a vast and open-to-sky exhibition of architecture and urban/city planning configurations with an extinct volcano right in the city centre.
A walk on the ‘Royal Mile’ – the main street in the Old Town gives you glimpses of the interwoven street pattern of the bygone days with narrow crisscrossing alleyways. Many prestigious buildings are housed in this area – the St. Giles’ Church, Parliament House, National Museum of Scotland, Church of Scotland’s Assembly Hall and such others. The Georgian Neoclassical and Victorian styles find a contrasting yet pleasant unification in the well-chiselled structures in both the New and Old Towns.
Scotland is said to be a land of fairytale castles dotting its horizon. The historic Edinburgh Castle, perched on top of a hill on the plug of an extinct volcano, dominates the city’s skyline. The centre’s cobbled walking streets on sloping gradients are abuzz with activity amidst iconic medieval monumental buildings. The retail outlets, restaurants, pubs – all may be with labels of the latest brands and chains, but the owners have consciously kept the interior décor enveloped with the serenity and tradition of the exteriors.
Open spaces with rich green foliage are spread across the city, and are often used for festival activities such as the famous Fringe Festival, Edinburgh Art Festival, etc. Well-adorned art galleries and museums provide the historic and rare documentation of the evolution of Scottish culture. Along with the buses and taxis, modern-day trams bring ease to public commuting.
When talking about contemporary architecture in Edinburgh, projects such as the Scottish Parliament Building, Scottish Poetry Library, National Museum Grand Gallery, and New Usher Building are mentioned by the locals. The Scottish Parliament Building, often referred to as abstract modernism, was designed by the Spanish-Catalan architect Enric Miralles Benedetta in partnership with RMJM, who describe it as “de-institutionalised, aggregated, and organic – embracing the landscape and defying all the canonical rules of architectural composition.”
It is one of the first buildings in recent times using concrete, steel, wood and glass, and is prone to critical observations. The Victorian-oriented industrial architecture of the Grand Gallery of the National Museum of Scotland (said to be inspired by the Crystal Palace) was originally designed by Captain Francis Fowke and later went through a major redevelopment by Hoskins Architects, restoring “the gallery to its original grandeur while integrating modern elements.”
The huge atrium with natural light flowing in from the finely-crafted glass roof and well-proportioned cast-iron support structure, induces a very inviting imagery to explore the thousands of artefacts housed in the museum.
Scotland is said to have over thirty-one thousand freshwater and sea lochs (bodies of water partially landlocked). The two most well-known for their scenic charm are Loch Ness (known for the mythical legend of the Loch Ness monster) and Loch Lomond. The drive to either one of them is an exciting one with exposure to some large and lush Scottish pastures and green-lands on gentle slopes, and also getting a peek at small medieval towns with castles and the Scottish history of wars embedded here.
Not too far from Edinburgh, there is another modern-day mega art installation that would catch your focus – The Kelpies – a pair of over-powering steel horse heads thirty meters high. Said to be the largest equine sculptures in the world (designed by Andy Scott), they are mythical, clad in stainless steel and believed to weigh three hundred tons each.
I quite agree with Ian Rankin in his comment, “Edinburgh isn’t so much a city, more a way of life… I doubt I’ll ever tire of exploring Edinburgh, on foot or in print.”
In fact, this holds good for Scotland as well. Our guide told us that “next time when you come here, please come with more Time.” Alas, for urbanites always in a haste, time is always in paucity. But the little exposure that I had of the region’s architecture, art, culture and landscape has no doubt helped me fathom the glory and tradition of society’s beliefs, lifestyle and sensitivities way back to the earlier centuries. It was also a revelation to the present-day Scot’s adoration and respect for his/her past in conserving and preserving the inherited legacy.
