Edinburgh Castle [antikvár]

InfroriiKüon fagwaawwMiM Edinburgh Castle's association with the history of the Scottish nation is a long one, and for many visitors the Castle is seen as the most tangible embodiment of that history. But its own architectural history as a group of buildings erected for specific, but changing needs is alsó highly fascinating, and the visitor who attempts to come to somé under-standing of this will find the effort rewarding. The starting point of any study of the Castle must be the rock on which it stands: a magnificent and naturally strong site förmed by the core of an extinct volcano. The action of glaciers in the Ice Ages left near-vertical faces on the north and south sides, with a more gradual slope on the west, and a gently descending ridge on the east. It is tempting to suggest that such a site must have been rendered defensible since prehistoric times, but there is no physical evidence to support this idea, and the earliest reference we have to its occupation is in the 6th century. Even then our knowledge of its use is very shadowy, and it is not until the llth century that we begin to be able to see it as a Castle. It is important to remember that Edinburgh was not the 'capital' of Scotland in any modern sense until the very end of the Middle Ages - before that time the capital was mm^*