Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh. Fourth Walk of Edinburgh (Canongate and Holyrood Palace) The official residence of the Queen in Scotland

Holyrood Palace is the official residence of the British monarchs in Edinburgh. Its name comes from the distorted Haly Ruid - "Holy Cross". This was the name of the abbey of the Augustinian order founded on this place in 1128.

The palace has been the official royal residence for 600 years.


The construction of the palace of Holyroodhouse was started in 1498 by James IV next to the abbey of the XII century (the ruins of which are still preserved).


By the end of the 15th century, the inn at the abbey was transformed into the unofficial residence of the kings of Scotland. In 1498-1501. James IV built a Renaissance palace on the site of the hotel, which, as the importance of Edinburgh as the capital of Scotland grew, became the main royal palace.

The unicorn has traditionally been included in many historical Scottish coats of arms (often in the form of a shield holder).
The historical coat of arms of Scotland is red on a golden field, with blue weapons (claws and tongue), a heraldic lion, around it a double red border sprouted with lilies.


In the 16th century, Holyrood Palace was the residence of Mary Stuart, and the interiors of her chambers have survived to this day. In 1671-1679. the building was rebuilt by order of King Charles II.


Abandoned for a long time, the palace was brought back to life by King George IV.

There is a tradition that the Queen spends at least one week of the year at Holyroodhouse. Here the Queen appoints the First Minister of Scotland and conducts royal receptions.


There is a wonderful garden around the palace.


Holyrood Abbey of the Augustinian Order, founded in 1128 by King David I of Scotland, has been actively used since the 15th century for coronations and weddings of royalty.


In the 18th century the roof of the main building collapsed, and now the abbey is a well-restored ruin.


The Palace of Holyroodhouse has the shape of a square - buildings on the sides of a square perimeter and a courtyard in the middle.


True, you can notice this only by climbing Salisbury - a mountain towering next to the palace.


Two double towers are attached to the facade of Holyrood Palace, giving Holyrood its own unique look.

Holyrood Palace is a mile away from Edinburgh Castle.

The halls of Holyrood Palace are decorated with alabaster stucco, frescoes by Dutch and Italian masters, and tapestries.

The royal residence was built in the 15th century in a medieval abbey of the Augustinian monks, of which only well-restored ruins have survived. Holyrood Palace has undergone several major renovations. In the 16th century, the Scottish Queen Mary Stuart lived in it, and in the 19th century, the French monarch Charles X. The ancient palace received the status of an official residence in 1920.

Today, when visiting Edinburgh, the British Queen always stops at Holyroodhouse Castle. Luxurious receptions, various ceremonies are held here, as well as the appointment of the head of government and the political leader of the country - the first minister of Scotland. When none of the members of the royal family is in the palace, tourists are allowed into the building.

Tourists

Beautiful gardens surround Holyrood Castle, and next to it are the ruins of an old Augustinian abbey. The territory of the palace is only partially open to visitors. You can get here daily: from April to October from 9.30 to 18.00, and from November to March from 9.30 to 16.30.

Tickets for adults, including an audio guide in Russian, cost £12.5, for students and people over 60 years old - £11.4, and for children under 17 years old - £7.5. Children under 5 years old can visit the palace for free. It should be borne in mind that inside the building it is forbidden to take pictures, shoot videos, and bring food and drinks into Holyroodhouse.

History of Holyroodhouse Castle

In 1128, King David I of Scots founded the abbey, where the Augustinian monks began to live. According to legend, a deer attacked David while hunting in the forest. The king could have died from sharp horns, but suddenly a light cloud arose in the sky, on which a large cross shone. The deer got scared and ran away. The king took what he saw as an omen and built the Abbey of the Holy Cross.

In the 15th century, the monastery hotel began to be used for the reception of royal persons and wedding celebrations. The place became very popular, so at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries, when King James IV of Scotland ruled, a new palace built in the best traditions of the Renaissance appeared instead of the hotel.

As Edinburgh grew and became the main Scottish city, Holyroodhouse Castle became the residence of the British monarchs. When the Civil War was going on, detachments of Oliver Cromwell lodged in the palace premises, and they caused significant damage to the building and even caused a fire.

Major alterations to Holyrood Castle took place in the 70s of the 17th century, under King Charles II, who decided to build a convenient palace for his brother James, the Duke of York. Trying to take into account all the wishes of the king, the architect William Bruce erected a palace building in the form of a quadrangle and built luxurious apartments for the king in it. True, the monarch himself never came to Edinburgh.

At the beginning of the 18th century, Scotland and England came to unite, so Holyroodhouse Castle lost its former importance and gradually fell into disrepair. The restoration of the palace and the preservation of ancient rooms and halls were taken up only at the beginning of the 19th century by order of King George IV.

Tour of the palace

We advise you to take at least an hour and a half to inspect the palace complex. Given the importance of the royal residence, a one-way route has been arranged around the Palace of Holyrood. It begins with the Baroque Main Staircase, built in the 17th century. The ceiling above the steps is decorated with elegant stucco molding in the form of angels holding the main regalia of Scotland in their hands, and paintings by Italian masters of the 16th century are placed on the walls.

Then the tourists enter the Royal dining room. It is followed by the luxurious Throne Room, where the coronation ceremony of George IV was held. Of particular interest to visitors are the richly decorated apartments of Mary Stuart. These rooms contain many antique tapestries, furniture, rare paintings and antiques.

The part of Holyroodhouse Castle, which tells about the Order of the Thistle, exhibits examples of awards that were presented to the people of Scotland who held public office and made a great contribution to the prosperity of the country. In this part of the palace there is a robe, which is traditionally put on at the ceremony of initiation into the knights of the Order of the Thistle.

In the castle of Holyroodhouse there is an art gallery where you can see portraits of all Scottish kings. It also exhibits rare beauty jewelry and objects of arts and crafts from the rich royal collections.

How to get there

Holyroodhouse Castle stands in the center of Edinburgh, at the end of the Royal Mile, opposite Arthur's Seat Hill. It can be reached by buses number 6 and 35. Edinburgh Waverley Station is a 15-minute walk from the palace.

Royal Palace of Holyrood in Edinburgh

Every big city has a main street that defines its individuality, including its architectural originality. In Edinburgh, this is the famous Royal Mile, connecting two remarkable monuments of medieval Scotland - Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Palace of Holyrood. They remind of the historical past of the country, giving tourists the pleasure of walking the entire Royal Mile from the castle down to the palace.

Having made this journey, the traveler stops in front of a gate with a magnificent forged lattice and figures of heraldic lions under crowns, raised on high support pillars. Here you can see one of the most famous palace buildings in the British Isles - the summer residence of the Queen. A mighty building with towers stands in the depths of a huge, spacious courtyard - a whole square - thanks to which it is not only clearly visible, but also perceived along with the surrounding landscape. In this regard, the same forged lattice plays an important role. On the north and south sides, it is cut through by the same gates as those that open the main entrance.

The silhouette of these gates - monumental and at the same time exceptionally elegant - is whimsical and unusually beautiful. Particularly impressive are the southern ones, which stand out against the background of the sky and the yellowish-brown grassy slopes of the mountain, known under the romantic name of Arthur's Throne. The lattice decorates the space in front of the palace, giving completeness to the whole ensemble. Its transparent lace sets off the severity of the building, further emphasizing the scale of its volumes.

The first impression of the palace is a feeling of strength and power, and at the same time solemnity and splendor. Forces - because to the right and left of the central facade, heavy towers of complex design with a massive battlement parapet and round pointed roof tops are brought forward. The left tower, in fact, is the old palace of Holyrood, built at the beginning of the 16th century. It contains the historical rooms of the palace. The one on the right, although it is a twin of the first tower, was erected two centuries later.

The towers are connected by a two-story screen building, with a portico in the center. Between the columns of the portico, above the entrance is a huge coat of arms of Scotland carved in stone. Behind this building is the main palace building, which occupies three sides of a courtyard covered with green lawn.

The palace owes its origin and name to a medieval abbey, of which only ruins now remain. The abbey had chambers in which Scottish monarchs often stayed. At the beginning of the 16th century, when Edinburgh became the capital under James IV, a palace began to be built next to the abbey. It was not at all like the building that exists today. It was a tall stone tower reinforced with four round towers at the corners. Tower-type castles are generally characteristic of medieval Europe, therefore the appearance of this kind of architectural structures in Scotland, which was constantly at war, is understandable. Other palace buildings adjoined the Holyrood Tower.

In 1554, the old palace - along with the abbey - was almost completely destroyed by the British. However, the tower escaped the fire, and when Mary Stuart returned from France to Scotland in 1561, she lived in it. One hundred years later, during the civil war, the palace burned down again, almost to the ground, set on fire by Cromwell's troops. But the left wing of the palace, the basis of which was the tower, again, by a lucky chance, was preserved. In 1671, during the reign of Charles II, the inspector of royal buildings, the architect William Bruce, was commissioned to restore and renovate the palace. In the form of the end of the XVII century. he has come down to our days.

The creation of Bruce, who completed the construction in 1678, seems more like a medieval castle than a front, secular residence. He built the south tower, the configuration repeating the medieval tower of the palace. He decorated the building connecting the two towers with a portico and completed it with a balustrade. The facades of the main building are three-storey. The lower floor is decorated with a loggia. The walls of the two upper ones are almost completely occupied by windows, representing rectangles elongated upwards, divided by a binding into many small squares, almost a whole floor high. Thus, in comparison with the severe towers, the facades of the main building acquired a certain lightness.

Over the centuries, the walls of the palace have darkened, and the contrast of the white window casings and black walls gives the building a somewhat dramatic character, further emphasizing its harsh, medieval features. But perhaps the main thing, in which the echoes of the Middle Ages are felt here, in addition to the configuration of the towers, is their windows, which are rarely located, like loopholes, and in the medieval high roofs, bristling with dormer windows, turrets and clips of chimneys even above the main palace building.

In the XVIII century. Holyrood received little attention. Only in 1745, when the pretender to the throne, Prince Charles Edward Stuart with his army occupied Edinburgh, Holyrood for a short time flashed with lights again. A sumptuous ball was given in the Long Gallery. The only one in many years, this ball was remembered for a long time by Edinburgh and chroniclers.

The palace became the official royal residence again in 1822 under Queen Victoria, after she began to stop there when visiting Scotland on her way to her beloved Balmoral Castle. Since 1922 it has been the official summer residence of British monarchs during their stay in Scotland. Every summer the Queen of England visits Scotland and spends one week at the palace. She and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh host a reception in Holyrood Park, where Scots from all walks of life are invited. When the service of the ancient Scottish knightly order of the Thistle is held in the nearby Cathedral of St. Giles, the queen and her husband in the Throne Room of the palace give a reception in honor of the knights of this order and their wives.

The front apartments are located on the second floor and occupy two sides of the courtyard. Along the third stretches a large front hall - over 42 m long - the already mentioned Long Gallery. It is still used for banquets and important meetings, and Scottish peers are also elected to the House of Lords here.

The Long Gallery looks rather modest - the walls are covered with simple dark oak panels; wooden floors; Antique furniture lined the walls. In this gallery one can feel antiquity, and the proportions of the hall, the very simplicity of decoration, give it significance and that severe restraint that is so characteristic of the monuments of Scottish architecture.

The true jewel of the Long Gallery of Holyrood are 111 portraits of Scottish kings from different times, executed between 1684 and 1688. Dutch artist Jacob de Wet. According to the artist, he painted them from originals provided to him by the Scottish government. True, no one has seen these originals, perhaps they did not exist at all. This conclusion can be drawn, since many of the kings in these “one-faced” portraits are simply the same model. But although portraits sin against history, nevertheless, their consideration delivers true pleasure. Strong strong-willed people with big eyes under wide eyebrows, in armor and helmets or with crowns on their heads, look from the darkened canvases. They are undeniably heroic.

The state apartments, located in the central part of the main building of the palace and connected to the Long Gallery, were originally occupied by the king. Now they are more associated with the name of Queen Victoria, who stayed here in the 19th century. In them you can see French and Flemish tapestries, magnificent tiles of stoves, individual pieces of antique furniture.

The right wing of the palace is occupied by the state apartments, which are used as such at the present time. They are opened by the Morning Lounge. The soft carpet that covers the entire floor drowns out the footsteps. An indispensable fireplace, placed between the Corinthian pilasters, is decorated with carved wood garlands. The real decoration of the hall is the rich, heavy molding of the ceiling, as well as tapestries on the plots of the myths about the goddess Diana.

It should be noted that the collection of tapestries is the pride of Holyrood Palace. The most valuable of these are the 18th-century Flemish tapestries, brought to Holyrood from Buckingham Palace and decorating the adjoining Evening Room.

The next one, the Great Throne Hall, is naturally more formal in its design. It is finished with strict panels, in which portraits of members of the royal house from different times are mounted. The main attraction of the hall is one of the largest carpets in Scotland, covering the entire floor.

The western living room is located in the right, southern tower of the palace. In it, the characteristic heavy molding of the ceiling contrasts with the smooth surface of the oak wall panels. It is curious that the entire decoration of the hall (with the exception of the floor) is made of only one giant oak that grew in East Lothian. From it managed to get 591 cubic meters. foot (60 cubic meters) of usable wood.

Above the fireplace is the main attraction of the Western Drawing Room - a large canvas, executed in a harsh primitive manner, dedicated to the memory of Darnley, the second husband of Mary Stuart, who died under mysterious circumstances. It depicts the interior of a chapel with a sarcophagus and a tombstone in the middle. Darnley's parents and his son, the future King of England and Scotland, are on their knees praying for vengeance. A small picture in a separate frame is inserted into the lower left part of the canvas, depicting the scene of the defeat of the troops of Mary Stuart at the Battle of Carberry Hall.

The last of the state rooms of Holyrood is the dining room, designed for small receptions. It occupies part of the gallery in a building with a coat of arms connecting both towers of the palace. Unlike the previous halls, the decoration of the dining room is solved in light colors. Finely patterned stucco is notable for its refinement and lightness, somewhat running counter to the baroque portraits hung on the walls.

Walking further along the corridor, you can get into the historical halls associated with Queen Mary Stuart, who spent six years in power in Holyrood, and the tragic events of her life that unfolded within the walls of the palace.

The historic rooms of Holyrood are few in number: on the first floor there is Darnley's bedroom, boudoir and reception room. From the latter, a staircase leads to the second floor, to Maria's rooms. This is an audience hall, a bedroom, a chapel and a dining room.

During its existence, all these rooms have undergone a number of changes. Thus, the pilasters and stucco ceiling in Darnley's reception room clearly date back to the 17th century. The old coffered ceiling, whose wooden panels are decorated with the coats of arms of Mary Stuart, her parents, the French Dauphin - her first husband - and his father Henry II, has been preserved in the audience hall of Mary. With rare exceptions, the original decoration of the rooms has not been preserved.

True, the layout, proportions and volumes of the chambers of Mary Stuart have been preserved. Therefore, when you go up a narrow spiral staircase or enter through a low door into a tiny dining room, you involuntarily feel the presence of life in these walls, distant, but really existing, and the rooms themselves, although turned into a museum, come to life and no longer seem like a museum.

If you go around the palace from the north side, then next to it you can see the majestic ruins of Holyrood Abbey, from which the history of the palace began. There are different legends about the origin of the abbey. One of them tells how in 1128, on the day of the church feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, King David I of Scotland, instead of indulging in prayers, went hunting and fell behind his retinue. In a dense forest, a huge deer attacked him and threw him off his saddle. Defending himself, the king grabbed the beast by the horns, but was surprised to find that instead of deer horns he was holding a cross in his hand. The deer immediately disappeared. On the site of his miraculous salvation, David I founded the abbey of Holyrood (Holyrood - translated means "Holy Cross").

The origin of the abbey is also associated with Queen Margaret, whose memory chapel stands in Edinburgh Castle. According to legend, she brought with her to Scotland a golden reliquary box in the shape of a cross. After Margaret's death, her son, David I, presented the box to the abbey he founded, and it became the main sacred relic of Scotland.

From the monastery that flourished in the Middle Ages, nothing remained for a long time, except for the church, and even that has come down to our days in ruins. Partially preserved is one of the mighty towers, which flanked the main, western facade. From individual fragments, one can judge the once rich stone carving that adorned this facade. One of the arcades of the nave has been preserved; its thin columns, framing the Gothic arched openings, stretch to nowhere: there is no roof over the former nave. Against the background of the sky, the stone cellular binding of the large lancet window of the eastern wall looms like black lace.

In a word, today the church of Holyrood Abbey is a classic example of those picturesque medieval ruins that so excited the imagination of the romantics of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

In the courtyard next to the abbey there is an old sundial made for Charles I by the royal mason and his sons. Nearby, behind the palace fence, you can see the clumsy bathhouse of Mary Stuart, which looks like a block of stone that has grown into the ground.

To the south of the palace, majestic treeless hills can be seen through the openwork of the palace fence, around which the road winds. This is Holyrood Park, where the highest of the hills is called Arthur's Seat. The people of Edinburgh jokingly claim that those who are too lazy to climb it are not worthy of their porridge. And they are probably right. Holyrood Park is very picturesque, and the view of Edinburgh will reward anyone for the trouble of climbing the mountain.