Tag: Edinburgh Castle

University of Edinburgh graduates in celebration to remember

Recent University of Edinburgh graduates celebrated their achievements at a unique event last night with the help of two city icons – Edinburgh Castle and The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo! 

This was the first in a series of celebrations across four days with nearly five thousand graduates from summer/winter 2020 and summer 2021, plus their guests, taking part in these processions in the magnificent setting of the Castle. 

Combining two of Edinburgh’s most famous institutions, the Tattoo and the University of Edinburgh, provided graduates and their guests with a night to remember.

Attendees were piped over the Castle drawbridge, then led in a procession by senior University academics, walking up through the Portcullis Gate and past the cannons, through Foogs Gate then into Castle Square accompanied by Tattoo dancers, pipers, drummers and fiddlers who provided entertainment along the way.

Graduates and their guests then entered the magnificent Great Hall, where they were capped by the University of Edinburgh’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Peter Mathieson. 

The first group were joined in their procession by First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, who walked with them and passed on her congratulations to graduates. 

Professor Peter Mathieson said: “Over the last 18 months, our students have faced challenges like no others before them, so it’s fantastic to offer them such a special event to celebrate not only their achievements, but their resilience and commitment shown throughout the pandemic. 

“It was a truly memorable moment to see our former students complete their University journey at such a spectacular and iconic setting and we are very grateful to the teams at the Tattoo and Castle for working with us to make it possible.”

Buster Howes, CEO of The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, said: “We’re committed to supporting the people and organisations of Edinburgh as the City starts to open up again.

“It’s been a privilege to collaborate with the University of Edinburgh and Historic Environment Scotland to give Edinburgh’s graduates a chance to celebrate with their families, their achievements over four years, which latterly have entailed significant challenges.

“We wish Edinburgh University’s graduates every success in the future – this is just the beginning for them!”

For more information about this year’s University of Edinburgh graduation, please visit: www.ed.ac.uk 

Hogmanay Heights

Edinburgh Castle to become student accommodation and will double as exclusive holiday lets

There has been a furious reaction to news that Edinburgh Castle has been sold – and will be converted into top of the range student accommodation.

The city council says the sale will do much to change the capital’s old-fashioned image but heritage groups say the sale of the castle is an act of barbarism

Glen Morangie, marketing director of Historic Environment Edinburgh, confirmed: “The decision was a no brainer. The building has been lying idle for over a year and it’s beginning to show it’s age.

“The city council has ambitious plans for the city centre so we have decided that now is the time to think outside the box and jump on the bandwagon. Make no mistake, this plan is a win, win.

“The building, which will be renamed Hogmanay Heights, will be converted into as many student flats as we can legally get away with – and as a major plus we have negotiated a deal with the city council to take over Princes Street Gardens.

“The gardens will be coverted into a huge drying space – which we’ll call The Back Green – to enable students to dry their laundry. This is to compensate for the lack of space in the flats – to be honest you won’t be able to swing a cat in them, but students don’t really care about that sort of thing. Laundry, I mean.”

Essential Edinburgh also has plans for Hogmanay Heights during the summer and winter breaks.

Mr Morangie continued: “We’ll send the students packing at end of term, give the flats a quick spruce up and let them out – at exhorbitant rates – to tourists. Visitors to Edinburgh are used to being ripped off so they’ll lap it up – it’s all part of the unique Edinburgh experience!”

Rupert Morningside-Merchiston, a ‘change champion’ consultant for City of Edinburgh Council, said: “There are exciting times ahead in the capital. After a year of pandemic misery this is just the tonic that the citizens of Edinburgh want and need – not that we’ve asked them, of course.

“Rest assured, the city centre will be transformed. The boring old fuddy-duddy stuff will be gone for ever – the trees, the flowers and the statues will be replaced with line after line of crisp clean laundry blowing in the breeze. Auld Reekie no more: and Edinburgh – sponsored by Persil – will lead the way once again.”

The Esplanade will become a massive bicycle shed, which causes a major problem for the organisers of Edinburgh’s world famous Tattoo.

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo’s Pipe Major Ruaridh Bannockburn said: “Of course we’ll miss Edinburgh Castle but times are changing, everyone’s cutting back and shows of miltary might ain’t what they used to be.

“Oddly enough, our very first Tattoo was a small event staged at the Ross Bandstand back in 1949, and it seems that we must now go back to our roots and stage a drastically scaled down Tattoo once again.

“With Underbelly’s permission we will be performing ‘Twa’ Pipers Ana’, Ana’ in a phonebox near the Ross Bandstand this August. Buy your tickets now, but remember to bring your own seat – the prices Underbelly charge are eye-watering!”

Archie Brunstane-Bingham, chairman of the Old Town Preservation Society, was unavailable for comment. It’s understood he’s moved to Glasgow.

Edinburgh Castle Shines a Light on Access Requirements

Heritage for All at Castle of Light Inclusive Evening

 Heritage for All at Castle of Light Inclusive Evening

Castle of Light is hosting a special access night to ensure as many people as possible can experience the animated storytelling tour at Edinburgh Castle this winter. Continue reading Edinburgh Castle Shines a Light on Access Requirements

Edinburgh Castle, Gaudi-style!

Edinburgh Castle is the city’s most iconic landmark, steeped in history and a prominent feature on the city’s skyline, from its position atop Castle Rock. But, what if it looked different? What if the castle wasn’t built in the 12th century by David I, but was instead created by the Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi? 

For the first time ever, TransPennine Express has asked the question, and reimagined Edinburgh Castle in the style of Gaudi, as part of a new series.

Edinburgh Castle houses some of Scotland’s most important artefacts, such as the Honours of Scotland and the Stone of Destiny. The outside is distinctive, as the fortress walls dissolve into the volcanic rock as if they were one entity. It is the culmination of the Royal Mile, and tourists flock here every day to get a sense of life for the Scottish royals in the Middle Ages.

In this reimagining, Antoni Gaudi’s influence is immediately obvious – with his Gothic free-flowing style taking over the Castle’s towers and walls, featuring colours borrowed from Park Güell. The roof of the castle becomes similar to his Casa Batlló building in Barcelona.

The full series of landmarks including Glasgow’s Duke of Edinburgh statue, Manchester’s Beetham Tower and Newcastle’s Angel of the North can be seen here: https://www.tpexpress.co.uk/explore-the-north-and-scotland/blog/2019/september/uk-landmarks-reimagined

Visitor attractions: London tops but Scotland outperforms rest of UK

The Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) announced its members’ visitor figures for 2018 today. There’s been an average increase of 8.68% on 2017 visits to UK attractions, while attractions in Scotland saw the biggest increase of 19.07%. Overall 138, 823, 297 visits were made to the top 249 ALVA sites in the UK.  Continue reading Visitor attractions: London tops but Scotland outperforms rest of UK

King of the Castles!

Edinburgh Castle retains No. 1 position

Edinburgh Castle has retained its position as Scotland’s top paid for visitor attraction, and jumped up two places in the rankings to be named as the 16th most visited attraction in the UK overall in 2016. Footfall at the historic site exceeded 1.7 million visitors, a 13% increase on 2015.

Scotland’s staffed heritage and cultural assets were well represented in the 2016 leader board, as a total of 14 new Historic Environment Scotland managed attractions joined the rankings for the very first time.

New additions included filming locations Doune and Blackness Castles, better known as Castle Leoch and Fort William in the hit historical time-travelling TV series, Outlander. Both attractions are benefitting from their stardom as a record 90,172 and 30,053 people explored the sites for themselves, a surge of 32% and 39%, respectively, compared to the same period for 2015.

These figures were amongst those released today – Monday 27th March – for UK wide member sites of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA). The association, which releases its figures annually, counts some of the UK’s biggest tourist attractions as members, also revealed that Scottish attractions had one of their best years on record, reporting the greatest increase of 16% and a total of 15 million visitors.

Strong visitor numbers for the same period were recorded at heritage attractions throughout the country. In Inverness, the ruins of Urquhart Castle attracted 396,397 people, St Andrews Cathedral was up 25% year on year to over 46,000 visitors. Elsewhere the 5,000 year old Skara Brae hit a total of 93,375 visitors and more than 52,000 people turned out at Melrose Abbey in the Scottish Borders.

Stephen Duncan, Director of Commercial and Tourism at Historic Environment Scotland and ALVA Board Member, said: “These latest figures from ALVA for last year show that Scotland is a major player in the UK tourism sector. It’s fantastic that Scottish member attractions collectively reported a 16% increase in footfall year on year, with over 15 million visits taking place in total.

“Heritage tourism is a key element in this wider success story. Together our iconic castles, abbeys, palaces and other historic sites, which represent thousands of years’ worth of Scottish history, welcomed over 3.7 million visitors in 2016 alone. Our visitor offering is stronger than ever before and it’s something that we will continue to build upon during 2017 as we mark Scotland’s Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology.”

Bernard Donoghue, Director of ALVA, added: “Like the 2015 figures, Scotland has continued to outperform the rest of the UK with a substantial increase in their visitor numbers. 2016 was a great year for Scottish Tourism – proving that Scotland is reaping the benefits of significant capital investment in attractions and creative programming by its institutions.”

Four million welcomes

Scotland’s historic sites break tourism record

Scotland’s staffed heritage attractions have drawn in more visitors than ever before. Over the last 11 months a record-breaking four million people have flocked to historic sites across the length and breadth of the country – and more than 1.6 million of them visited top attraction Edinburgh Castle.  Continue reading Four million welcomes