Director's Notes September 2009

The gradual dismantling of the scaffoldings around the Nelson and Burns Monuments on Calton Hill signals the end of this summer’s ambitious repair campaign, as well as a little over the half way mark with the Twelve Monuments programme. Planning is well underway for the next phase of this highly successful collaboration with the City of Edinburgh Council, involving Charles II (one of the few statues in the city originally paid for by the city rather than by public subscription) and St Bernard’s Well by the Water of Leith, modelled on the Temple of Vesta, more likely the one in Tivoli, by the crashing waters of the Aniene, than the Roman version. It must have been a matter of climatic and functional practicality rather than deep classical confusion that this version of the Temple of Vestas has a statue of Hygieia rather than a flame at its heart.

That notion takes us back (via a confusion of eras and architecture) to our own Acropolis and its elysian fields atop Calton Hill, where it is pleasing to see that work has restarted on James Craig’s House (also known as Old Observatory House). Once complete, those with an involvement in the future of Calton Hill can focus their efforts on Playfair’s observatory complex and the Royal High School, and then, perhaps arguably as important, on the coordinated management of a vision for the hill. We hope to be central to the formation of this vision.

The link between art and architecture, so apparent in the Enlightenment and in swathes of central Edinburgh’s planning and construction, is being reformed with Martin Creed’s involvement in the EWH and City of Edinburgh project to repair and reinvigorate the Scotsman Steps. We haven’t a clue what he will come up with for the steps, but it will be far from boring, and with any luck will help steer people’s thoughts about their surrounds and places.

While the opportunity for public art has been seized with the Scotsman Steps, on the other side of the Waverley valley, an opportunity is being lost. While warmly welcoming proposals for the repair and restoration of Waverley Station’s roof, the proposal includes the tidying up of the surrounds of the station, with the demolition of the plinth to the north of the station on the Calton Road (which once formed part of the Jeffrey St footbridge. We put forward, with the Ingleby Gallery, a proposal to Network Rail and the station manager for the repair of the plinth and its use for the temporary display of public art – Edinburgh’s answer to the 4th plinth in Trafalgar Square in London if you like – only to be told that demolition was required for “operational purposes”. We have not yet had any clarity on what these purposes might be other than car parking.

And finally, for those of you seeking respite from the fun and frolics of the festival, I would encourage you to explore the five burial grounds of the World Heritage Site. We are supporting initiatives in two of these with relatively small grants (Greyfriars and St John's), and remain involved with work to coordinate action and the exchange of experience for all five.