Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age. There has been a royal castle on the rock since at least the reign of Malcolm III in the 11th century, and the castle continued to be a royal residence until 1633. From the 15th century, the castle's residential role declined, and by the 17th century it was principally used as a military garrison. Its importance as a part of Scotland's national heritage was recognised increasingly from the early 19th century onwards, and various restoration programmes have been carried out over the past century and a half.
Edinburgh Castle dominates the Old Town
The castle is built on a volcanic rock, as seen here in a 19th century view from the Grassmarket area
The Castle seen from the North
St Margaret, depicted in a stained glass window in the chapel of Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. The city is located in south-east Scotland, and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth estuary and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh had a population of
506,520 in mid-2020, making it the second-most populous city in Scotland and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom. The wider metropolitan area has a population of 912,490.
Image: Dugald Stewart Monument, Calton Hill, Edinburgh (cropped)
Image: Scott Monument Édimbourg 11 (cropped)
Image: Scottish Parliament building, Edinburgh geograph.org.uk 223821 (cropped) (cropped)
Image: Arthur's Seat from Calton Hill (cropped)
