Edinburgh castle

Edinburgh Castle ( English Edinburgh Castle ) - an ancient fortress on the Castle Rock in the center of the Scottish capital - Edinburgh . Until recently, was at the disposal of the British Ministry of Defense. The castle is open to the public and is the main tourist attraction of Edinburgh .

Castle
Edinburgh castle
English Edinburgh castle
The castle rises over the modern capital of Scotland. View from the Grassmarket Square.
A country	Scotland
City	Edinburgh
First mention	1139 year
Site

Chambers of Scottish Kings

The main street of old Edinburgh leads to it - the so-called Royal Mile , at the other end of which is the Holyrood Palace .

The castle is located on top of the Castle Rock , an extinct volcano that was active about 350 million years ago. The top of the rock was inhabited from the Late Bronze Age, about 800 years BC. er The first mention of the fortifications called Din Eidyn (Din Eidyn) or the fortress of Eidyn (Stronghold of Eidyn) is given in Welsh epic poetry around the year 600 AD. er The first definite indication of the existence of the castle is related to the reign of King David I , who convened meetings of nobles and church ministers in the castle since 1139 .

Throughout its history, the fortress was a kind of "key to Scotland." Originally built in the early Middle Ages, the castle was thoroughly rebuilt at the beginning of the 17th century and adapted for defense using fortress artillery . The castle gives the impression of an absolutely impregnable fortress. Three sides of the fortress are protected by steep cliffs, and access to the castle was limited by a steep road on the fourth (eastern) side. The road can only be reached through the esplanade - a long and empty, completely sweep-out slope from the fortress, where the Royal Edinburgh parade of military orchestras passes annually.

Earlier, on the north side of the castle, there was a rather large lake Nor-Loch , which protected the approaches to the castle and the Old Town from this side. At the end of the 18th century , under the kings of the Hanover dynasty , the lake was gradually drained due to the construction of the New City in Edinburgh.

On the castle grounds there is the oldest building in Edinburgh (and almost the whole of Scotland) - St. Margaret's Chapel , named after Margaret of Scotland , but actually built in the beginning of the XII century by her son, King David . Also in Edinburgh Castle stored Skune stone and the crown of Scotland .

The Mills-Mount battery has a so-called “ Clock gun ” ( one O'Clock Gun ) - an artillery gun on the wall, from which every day, except on Sundays, Good Friday and Christmas , exactly at one o'clock, a shot is fired.