Dugald Stewart Monument

The Dugald Stewart Monument stands on Calton Hill, a grassy ridge in the centre of Edinburgh. It is a circular temple of nine fluted Corinthian columns that support a low entablature and an urn on a circular podium. The design copies the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens, brought to wider notice by James ‘Athenian’ Stuart and Nicholas Revett’s 1762 survey. The monument was commissioned by the Royal Society of Edinburgh and completed in September 1831. It overlooks the city from an elevated position, offering long views across Princes Street and the Firth of Forth. Dugald Stewart was professor of moral philosophy at the University of Edinburgh from 1786 until his death in 1828. The monument was chosen by the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1830 and is now a category A listed building. William Henry Playfair, who also planned the nearby National Monument of Scotland, designed the structure. The choragic form was also used for the contemporaneous Robert Burns Monument by Thomas Hamilton. The terrace roads around Calton Hill were laid out by Playfair as part of the same project. Visitors reach the monument by a winding path up Calton Hill. The nine columns stand on a circular platform raised above the hilltop, with the urn at the centre. From the podium there are sweeping views over Edinburgh’s New Town and the distant hills. The stonework is pale sandstone, weathered to a soft grey. The site is quiet except for the wind and distant city sounds, making it a place for reflection.