Scott Monument

The largest monument to a writer anywhere in the world stands in the middle of Edinburgh like a Gothic rocket ship. At 61 metres tall, the Scott Monument is a Victorian fever dream of spires, arches, and staircases dedicated to Sir Walter Scott, the novelist who essentially invented the historical fiction genre and single-handedly revived Scottish national identity. The 287 steps to the top viewing platform wind through increasingly narrow spiral staircases that would make a claustrophobe weep, but the panorama from the top — castle, Calton Hill, Arthur's Seat, the Firth of Forth — makes it worth every breathless step.

The monument carries 68 statues, not counting Scott and his dog Maida at the base. Sixty-four of these figures represent characters from Scott's novels, carved into every available niche and alcove. The architect, George Meikle Kemp, was a self-taught draughtsman and former shepherd who entered the design competition under a pseudonym and beat out Edinburgh's finest architects. He never saw his masterpiece completed — in March 1844, just months before the inauguration, Kemp drowned in the Union Canal while walking home in the dark. He was forty-nine.

The monument was built from Binny sandstone quarried near Ecclesmachan in West Lothian. Unfortunately, this particular stone absorbs soot like a sponge, and within decades the monument had turned jet black from Edinburgh's coal-smoke pollution. It's been cleaned several times but always darkens again, giving it a brooding Gothic quality that suits Scott's romantic sensibility far better than fresh cream stone ever could.

Construction ran from 1840 to 1844 and cost around £16,000, raised by public subscription. Scott's contribution to Edinburgh's identity was so enormous — he rediscovered the Honours of Scotland, orchestrated George IV's visit to Edinburgh in 1822, and made the Highlands fashionable — that the city essentially built him a cathedral.