Personalities Commemorated in Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland (B)

Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, has many interesting monuments to the famous and infamous who have been associated with the city. The most striking is the Scott Monument, the tallest monument to a literary giant and dedicated to Sir Walter Scott. The cutest is the brass statue of Bobby Greyfriars the dog who mourned his master for fourteen years. And the most amusing a massive statue of Queen Victoria that the subject did not find at all funny. I started my visit at the Scott Monument.

Sir Walter Scott, born in Edinburgh in 1771 is generally considered to be both the inventor and the greatest writer of historical novels. He was a born storyteller weaving tales of memorable characters in exciting historical settings. Following the immediate success of his first novel, Waverley, he wrote a series of novels that came to be known as the Waverley novels. Following his death in 1832 the city decided that it should build a monument to this great writer. An architectural competition was held and George Meikle Kemp emerged as the winner. The unique Scott Monument is the largest monument to a writer anywhere in the world. I enjoyed the amazing experience of climbing to the top of its pinnacle and visited the little museum on the first floor on my way down. This museum includes artefacts that once belonged to the writer. The Writers’ Museum celebrates the life of Scott as well as two other famous Scottish writers Robert Burns and Robert Louis Stevenson. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).