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41-568: The Scottish American Memorial , or Scots American War Memorial , is in West Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh. It was called "The Call 1914", and it was erected in 1927 and shows a kilted infantryman looking towards Castle Rock . Behind the main statue is a frieze showing queues of men answering the call by following a kilted pipe band . The memorial was given by Scottish-Americans to honour Scots who had served in
82-615: A 750-bay car park. Royal Scottish Academy The Royal Scottish Academy ( RSA ) is the country’s national academy of art. It promotes contemporary Scottish art . The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh . Originally named the Scottish Academy , it became the Royal Scottish Academy on being granted a royal charter in 1838. The RSA maintains a unique position in
123-601: A number of Old Masters . A new building to house the exhibitions, the Royal Institution designed by the noted Scottish architect William Henry Playfair , was erected in Edinburgh at the junction of The Mound and Princes Street . The RI shared the premises with other cultural organisations, the Royal Society of Edinburgh , and a museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland . Disagreements grew in
164-468: A side street off Princes Street. In 1771 the council acquired the land as part of the First New Town development. It began feuing ground on the south side of Princes Street (on the site of the current Balmoral Hotel and Waverley Market ) for the building of houses and workshops for a coach-builder and a furniture-maker. After a failed petition to the council the proprietors raised two actions in
205-547: A variety of amusement park rides and the Christmas Market, which has food and gifts from all around the world. The most notable attraction is the 33 metre (108 feet) high Ferris wheel, often dubbed 'The Edinburgh Eye'. West Princes Street Gardens were originally the private property of "the Princes Street Proprietors" who overlooked them from their houses on the western half of the street. This
246-613: The Court of Session to halt the building and to condemn the Corporation for having contravened their feuing terms by which they had presupposed open ground and a vista south of the street. After the Court found in favour of the council on the first point the decision was quickly appealed to the House of Lords and overturned, but when the Court again supported the council on the second point,
287-598: The National Gallery of Scotland building . The RSA building is managed by National Galleries Scotland but the 1910 Order grants the RSA permanent administration offices in the building. Exhibition space is shared throughout the year with the Scottish National Gallery and other organisations (Exhibiting Societies of Scottish Artists). The building, originally designed by William Henry Playfair ,
328-525: The first World War . It is designated a Category B listed building by Historic Scotland . The memorial was paid for by The Scottish – American War Memorial Committee representing Scottish-Americans as a tribute to the bravery of Scottish troops during World War I. The Scottish National War Memorial (with similar design relating to the military in the Shrine) having been opened in July of that same year it
369-600: The City Architect Robert Morham including the building of a very picturesque gardeners cottage at the east end of the West Gardens. As part of a later agreement (c.1880) the council widened Princes Street (resulting in a far steeper embankment on that side). A series of statues were erected along the edge of the widened road. Modernization of the gardens is currently under discussion with the launch of The Quaich Project fundraising campaign from
410-455: The Fittest, and during the city's Hogmanay celebrations. The Ross Development Trust proposed to rebuild the bandstand as a Ross Pavilion based on design by architects wHY following an international competition in 2017. The Ross Fountain is the focus of the western end of the gardens. Gifted by Edinburgh gunsmith Daniel Ross, it was originally installed in 1872 and restored in 2018 with
451-683: The RI building. The building housed RI's collection of Old Master paintings along with the RSA collection. The RSA continued to share space in the National Gallery building until 1911. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the arts organisations relocated; the Society of Antiquaries moved its museum to new premises on Queen Street (the building that now houses the Scottish National Portrait Gallery ), while
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#1732791269205492-625: The RSA also administers scholarships, awards, and residencies for artists who live and work in Scotland. The RSA's historic collection of important artworks and an extensive archive of related material chronicling art and architecture in Scotland over the last 180 years are housed in the National Museums Collection Centre at Granton, and are available to researchers by appointment. Displays of the historic collections are mounted whenever possible. The most famous award
533-674: The RSA) thereafter. Academicians are elected to the Academy by their peers. There are also Honorary Academicians (HRSA). After amendments to the Supplementary Charter in 2005, once Associates (ARSA) have submitted a Diploma work into the Permanent Collection of the RSA, they are then entitled to full membership of the Academy. The membership includes 30 Honorary Academicians and 104 Academicians. From 2010–12,
574-489: The Ross Development Trust. The new design will improve accessibility and provide new pathways and connections across the city. In 1939 four huge air-raid shelters were created within this northern embankment. The distinctive shelters now on the upper walkway date from 1950 and were designed by Alexander Garden Forgie. As with most structures in the gardens they are listed buildings. The Ross Bandstand in
615-692: The Royal Scottish Academy administers is the Guthrie Award which goes out to Scottish-based artists annually, since 1920, but there are many others like the Keith Award, the Latimer Award and the architecture awards, as well as external awards which it presents. The RSA's home since 1911 has been the Royal Scottish Academy Building at the junction of The Mound and Princes Street in Edinburgh , adjacent to
656-605: The Royal Society moved to 22-24 George Street , and in 1907, the Royal Institution moved to the new Edinburgh College of Art .. In 1911, the RSA was granted permanent tenancy of the old RI building and the right to hold its annual exhibition there. The building became known as the Royal Scottish Academy , a name it retains to this day. In addition to a continuous programme of exhibitions,
697-590: The Theory and Practice of Art and is by William Brodie originally for the garden of Rockville, the home of his maverick architect son-in-law Sir James Gowans . It was moved here in the 1960s following the demolition of Rockville. The Swedish runestone U 1173 was located beneath the Castle walls ( grid reference NT25267352 ), however due to security concerns it was removed from its location in November 2017 and
738-565: The adjacent churches of St. John's and St. Cuthbert's , near Lothian Road in the west. In 1846 the railway was built in the valley to connect the Edinburgh-Glasgow line at Haymarket with the new northern terminus of the North British line from Berwick-upon-Tweed at Waverley Station . The Gardens are the best known parks in Edinburgh, having the highest awareness and visitor figures for both residents and visitors to
779-489: The artists' community, and many considered the RI to be too elitist. In 1826, a group of artists broke away from the Royal Institution and took the name of the Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture . The inaugural meeting was held on 27 May 1826 at Stewart’s Rooms on Waterloo Bridge, Edinburgh, attended by 13 founding Academicians — 11 painters, one architect and one sculptor. The first president
820-587: The call and changing from civilians into marching soldiers. It was also by McKenzie, but the architect Reginald Fairlie was also involved. The stonework is constructed from Craigleith sandstone. At the very top of the design are the two intertwined escutcheons of America and Scotland. The memorial was said to have cost ten thousand pounds at the time it was built. At the bottom of the frieze are lines from E. A. Mackintosh's poem " A Creed ": "If it be life that waits I shall live forever unconquered; if death I shall die at last strong in my pride and free." Mackintosh
861-663: The centre of the West Gardens is named after William Henry Ross, Chairman of the Distillers Company Ltd., who gifted the first bandstand on the site in 1877. The present building and terraces date from 1935. The Princes Street proprietors contributed £500 as a goodwill gesture to the cost of the bandstand. Various concerts and other events are held at the Ross Bandstand including the Festival Fireworks Concert, Men's Health Survival of
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#1732791269205902-645: The city. In 1846, the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway company constructed a railway line in a cutting along the southern edge of the Gardens to join its Haymarket terminus to a new General Station adjoining the North British Railway Company's North Bridge terminus (both stations later renamed Waverley Station ). This involved constructing the Haymarket Tunnel (comprising separate north and south tunnels), 910 metres long, between
943-599: The country as an independently funded institution led by eminent artists and architects to promote and support the creation, understanding, and enjoyment of visual arts through exhibitions and related educational events. The Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Scotland (RI) was founded in 1819 with the aim of mounting exhibitions and promoting artistic appreciation in Scotland. The RI acquired artworks by contemporary Scottish artists as well as
984-510: The directly related Scottish National War Memorial . West Princes Street Gardens Princes Street Gardens are two adjacent public parks in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland, lying in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle . The Gardens were created in the 1820s following the long draining of the Nor Loch and building of the New Town , beginning in the 1760s. The loch , situated on
1025-628: The explorer David Livingstone , the publisher and Lord Provost Adam Black and the essayist Professor John Wilson , who wrote under the pseudonym Christopher North . There is also a small commemorative stone honouring the volunteers from the Lothians and Fife who fought in the Spanish Civil War . Every year, in the weeks leading up to the end of the year, the East Gardens are transformed into 'Edinburgh's Christmas'. This includes
1066-411: The gardens be opened during Christmas and New Year "with the object of keeping parties out of the dram shops (i.e. illegal drinking premises)" led eventually to them being opened to the general public on Christmas Day, New Year's Day and one other day in the year. In 1876, despite much opposition from residents, the town council reacquired the ground for use as a public park. The new park was laid out by
1107-425: The group leased gallery space in the Royal Institution building to mount exhibitions of its growing art collection, and in 1838 the group received a royal charter and became the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA). One of the key aims of the RSA was to found a national art gallery for Scotland, and this was realised in 1859, when a new gallery building was built by Playfair, the National Gallery of Scotland , adjacent to
1148-745: The help of the Ross Development Trust. Along the south side of Princes Street are statues of the poet Allan Ramsay , the church reformer Thomas Guthrie , and the obstetric pioneer James Young Simpson . Other monuments are the Royal Scots Greys Memorial, the Scottish American War Memorial , the Norwegian Brigade War Memorial, and Wojtek the Bear . The statuary group on the lower path represents The Genius of Architecture crowning
1189-560: The length of Princes Street "shall be kept and preserved in perpetuity as pleasure-grounds to be dressed up at the expense of the town council as soon as may be." Along the south side of Princes Street are many statues and monuments. In the East Gardens most prominent is the Scott Monument , a Neo-Gothic spire built in 1844 to honour Sir Walter Scott . Within East Princes Street Gardens there are statues of
1230-471: The matter was submitted to judicial arbitration. This resulted in a judgement that the houses could be completed which later allowed the North British Hotel (Balmoral Hotel) to be built on the site, that the adjacent furniture-maker's premises must not rise above the level of Princes Street (which is the reason the roof of Waverley Market is at street level) and that the ground westwards for half
1271-551: The memorial) was designed by R. Tait McKenzie who was a Scottish Canadian working at the time at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia . McKenzie only took to sculpture in later life having started his interests in physical education. His sculpture invariably was of life size male athletic figures. This work took him four years to complete. The bronze backdrop frieze shows Scots of differing professions answering
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1312-661: The north side of the town, was originally an artificial creation forming part of its medieval defences and made expansion northwards difficult. The water was habitually polluted from sewage draining downhill from the Old Town . The gardens run along the south side of Princes Street and are divided by The Mound , on which the National Gallery of Scotland and the Royal Scottish Academy buildings are located. East Princes Street Gardens run from The Mound to Waverley Bridge, and cover 8.5 acres (3.4 ha). The larger West Princes Street Gardens cover 29 acres (12 ha) and extend to
1353-504: The western end of the gardens and Haymarket Station . A shorter tunnel (again comprising two separate tunnels) was also dug through The Mound which separated the East and West Gardens. East Princes Street Gardens originated after a dispute between Edinburgh Corporation (town council) and the early New Town proprietors, among whom was the philosopher David Hume who resided in St. David Street,
1394-409: Was George Watson , who served until 1837. Its aims were to hold an annual exhibition, open to all artists of merit; to provide free education for artists by founding an academy of fine arts; to build a collection of artworks and a fine arts library; and to provide financial support to less fortunate artists. The RSA's first Annual Exhibition was held in the rented rooms at 24 Waterloo Place. From 1835,
1435-420: Was a 23-year-old ex-Oxford Classics student of Scottish descent who was killed at the second Battle of Cambrai in 1917. When R Tait McKenzie died he hoped to have his heart buried beneath this memorial, and this presumably either because he considered this his best work or also perhaps on account of a belief in its general significance in relation to First World War memorials in general and in particular perhaps
1476-588: Was added to and "finalised" in May 2007 following the termination of the Royal Scots in 2006. This added additional Battle Honours gained since the 1950s. A new monument, in the form of a baby elephant by sculptor Andy Scott, was added to the gardens on 2 February 2019. Located by The Genius of Architecture, this is a permanent reminder of the 250 babies and their families affected by the Mortonhall scandal, which
1517-598: Was evidently relatedly unveiled on 7 September 1927 by the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom , Alanson B Houghton , with the Mackintosh's text reading "if it be life that waits, I shall live forever unconquered. If death, I shall die at last, strong in my pride and free" and with on the contemporary postcard the title "Spirit of 1914" . "The Call 1914" (as actually named within
1558-480: Was moved to George Square, outside the school of Scandinavian studies in 2020. At the eastern entrance to the Gardens there is the world's first floral clock dating from 1903. The large curved monument to the Royal Scots stands slightly hidden just south of the gardener's cottage. It was designed by Sir Frank Mears with sculpture by Pilkington Jackson . Described as a "modern henge" it dates from 1950 but
1599-608: Was passed to them from the council in 1816 and the gardens were opened to subscribers generally in the New Town in 1821. Dogs, cricket, perambulators and smoking were prohibited under their rules, and people using bath-chairs had to present a doctor's certificate to the Committee of the garden attesting to their ailment not being contagious. An application by the Scottish Association for Suppressing Drunkenness that
1640-505: Was recently refurbished as part of the Playfair Project and is now part of the Scottish National Gallery complex. The RSA is led by a body of eminent artist and architect members who encompass a broad cross-section of contemporary Scottish art. Members are known as Academicians , and are entitled to use the post-nominal letters RSA. The president uses the postnominal letters PRSA while in office, and PPRSA (Past President of
1681-764: Was uncovered in 2012. Running along the southern edge of the West Princes Street Gardens is a train line separating the garden from the Castle Hill Garden. You can access Castle Hill Garden via a bridge behind the Ross Band Stand. The garden has been closed for several years due to rockfall and subsidence. Until the 1960s on the western side of the West Princes Street Gardens the Castle Terrace Gardens were adjoined. In 1964 these gardens were dug up to construct