Statues in United Kingdom
National Monument of Scotland
The National Monument of Scotland, on Calton Hill, is Scotland's national memorial to the Scottish soldiers and sailors who died fighting in the Napoleonic Wars. It was intended, according to the inscription, to be 'A Memorial of the Past and Incentive to the Future Heroism of the Men of Scotland'. The monument dominates the top of Calton Hill, just to the east of Princes Street. It was designed during 1823-6 by Charles ...Albert Memorial Clock
The Albert Memorial Clock was completed in 1869 and is one of the best known landmarks of Belfast. It was built as a memorial to Queen Victoria"s late Prince Consort, Prince Albert. The sandstone memorial was constructed between 1865 and 1869 by Fitzpatrick Brothers builders and stands 113 feet tall in a mix of French and Italian Gothic styles. The base of the tower features flying buttresses with heraldic ...Wallace Monument
The National Wallace Monument is which commemorates Sir William Wallace, a 13th-century Scottish hero. The tower was constructed following a fundraising campaign, which accompanied a resurgence of Scottish national identity in the 19th century. Completed in 1869 to the designs of architect John Thomas Rochead at a cost of £18,000, the monument is a 67-metre sandstone tower, built in the Victorian Gothic style. The ...Scrabo Tower
Scrabo Tower is a lookout tower or folly built in 1857-1859. It provides wide views and forms a landmark that can be seen from far. It was built as a memorial to the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry and was originally known as Londonderry Monument. Its architecture is an example of the Scottish baronial revival style.Duke of Gordon's Monument
The Duke of Gordon"s Monument is a commemorative monument on Lady Hill. Built in honour of George Gordon, the 5th Duke of Gordon, the monument takes the form of a Tuscan column, 24 m high. The column is hollow, with a spiral staircase leading up the shaft which gives access to the top. It was erected in 1839, and a statue of Gordon, sculpted by Thomas Goodwillie, was installed on the top in 1855.Kildalton Cross
The Kildalton Cross is a monolithic high cross in Celtic cross form in the churchyard of the former parish church of Kildalton. It was carved probably in the second half of the 8th century AD, and is closely related to crosses of similar date on Iona. It is often considered the finest surviving Celtic cross in Scotland, and is certainly one of the most perfect monuments of its date to survive on western Europe. A simpler ...Victoria Tower
Victoria Tower is a monument erected in honor of a visit by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to the island in 1846. As the 1846 royal visit was the first time a reigning monarch had ever visited the island, a small granite stone was laid to mark where the queen had first stepped ashore in St Peter Port harbour. The following year, the architect William Colling was asked to draw up plans for a tower to commemorate the mona ...Airlie Monument
The Airlie Monument was erected in memory of the 11th Earl of Airlie who was killed in the Boer War on 11th June 1900. The whole of the stonework of the monument was taken from Herdhill Quarry Kirriemuir except for the carved panels, which were taken from Corsehill Quarry Dumfrieshire.Balmashanner Hill and War Memorial
The monument on Balmashanner Hill, known locally as “Bummie”, was built in 1920-1921. A plaque above the entrance reads Their name liveth for evermore. Erected in Memory of the men of Forfar and District who fell in the Great War 1914-18. There’s also a roll call plaque on the wall inside. The building was dedicated by Queen Mary on the 11th September, 1921 and comprises a square tower, with battlements and turret ...Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings
Historic Site of the week
Luxembourg Palace
The famous Italian Medici family have given two queens to France: Catherine, the spouse of Henry II, and Marie, widow of Henry IV, who built the current Luxembourg palace. Maria di Medici had never been happy at the Louvre, still semi-medieval, where the fickle king, did not hesitate to receive his mistresses. The death of Henry IV, assassinated in 1610, left the way open for Marie's project. When she became regent, she was able to give special attention to the construction of an imposing modern residence that would be reminiscent of the Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens in Florence, where she grew up. The development of the 25-hectare park, which was to serve as a jewel-case for the palace, began immediately.
The architect, Salomon de Brosse, began the work in 1615. Only 16 years later was the palace was completed. Palace of Luxembourg affords a transition between the Renaissance and the Classical period.
In 1750, the Director of the King's Buildings installed in the wing the first public art-gallery in France, in which French and foreign canvases of the royal collections are shown. The Count of Provence and future Louis XVIII, who was living in Petit Luxembourg, had this gallery closed in 1780: leaving to emigrate, he fled from the palace in June 1791.
During the French Revolution the palace was first abandoned and then moved as a national prison. After that it was the seat of the French Directory, and in 1799, the home of the Sénat conservateur and the first residence of Napoleon Bonaparte, as First Consul of the French Republic. The old apartments of Maria di Medici were altered. The floor, which the 80 senators only occupied in 1804, was built in the middle of the present Conference Hall.
Beginning in 1835 the architect Alphonse de Gisors added a new garden wing parallel to the old corps de logis, replicating the look of the original 17th-century facade so precisely that it is difficult to distinguish at first glance the old from the new. The new senate chamber was located in what would have been the courtyard area in-between.
The new wing included a library (bibliothèque) with a cycle of paintings (1845–1847) by Eugène Delacroix. In the 1850s, at the request of Emperor Napoleon III, Gisors created the highly decorated Salle des Conférences, which influenced the nature of subsequent official interiors of the Second Empire, including those of the Palais Garnier.
During the German occupation of Paris (1940–1944), Hermann Göring took over the palace as the headquarters of the Luftwaffe in France, taking for himself a sumptuous suite of rooms to accommodate his visits to the French capital. Since 1958 the Luxembourg palace has been the seat of the French Senate of the Fifth Republic.