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The Royal Institution
© Copyright: For permission to reproduce, please contact peter.stubbs@edinphoto.org.uk This is the gallery facing directly onto Princes Street, seen in the photograph above. It was designed by Playfair and built on wooden piles as the ground on which it was built had been an earthen mound built over a bog. The Royal Institution, opened in 1822, was the Headquarters for the Board of Manufacturers. The gallery also housed: - The Royal Society of Edinburgh - The Society of Antiquities of Scotland - The Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Scotland - The Edinburgh Art Union and other Edinburgh learned societies and Art organizations The Royal Institution rented space to the Royal Scottish Academy for its Annual Exhibitions, until it could no longer afford the space to do so. The gallery has sculpture of Queen Victoria by Steele, the sculptor who produced several other monuments around Edinburgh, above the entrance. |
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The Board of Manufactures was originally established as The Board of Trustees for Manufactures in Scotland, in terms of an Act of Parliament in 1727 to: "encourage and promote the fisheries or such other manufactures and improvements in Scotland as may most conduce to the general good of the United Kingdom." |
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The National Gallery of Scotland behind the Royal Institution
© Copyright: To reproduce, please contact peter.stubbs@edinphoto.org.uk The National Gallery of Scotland (left, on this post-card), like the Royal Scottish Academy (right, partially in view), was designed by Playfair. It was built on ground immediately behind the Royal Institution, and above the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway tunnel. This ground had been previously occupied by Wombwell's Menagerie The National Gallery was created as a home for a National Gallery of paintings, and to accommodate the Royal Scottish Academy's annual exhibitions. The foundation stone laid by Prince Albert on 30 Aug 1850 The first exhibition was held in the partially completed building, 1855. The building was formally opened 1859. It was renovated in 1988, and further work is currently being carried out in 2002. |
