page_title: Nelson Monument, Edinburgh
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Nelson Monument, Edinburgh / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Nelson Monument, Calton Hill, Edinburgh. From J. Paul Getty Museum.
context_page_description: The Nelson Monument is a commemorative tower in honour of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, located in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is situated on top of Calton Hill, and provides a dramatic termination to the vista along Princes Street from the west. The monument was built between 1807 and 1816 to commemorate Nelson's victory over the French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, and his own death at the same battle. In 1852 a mechanized time ball was added, as a time signal to shipping in Leith harbour. The time ball is synchronized with the One O'Clock Gun firing from Edinburgh Castle. The monument was restored in 2009.
  The Royal Navy's White Ensign and signal flags spelling out Nelson's famous message "England expects that every man will do his duty" are flown from the monument on Trafalgar Day each year.
context_section_description: The monument was constructed at the highest point of Calton Hill, at 171 metres (561 ft) above sea-level, replacing an earlier mast used to send signals to shipping in the Forth. The monument was funded by public subscription and an initial design prepared by Alexander Nasmyth. His pagoda-like design was deemed too expensive, and an alternative design in the form of an upturned telescope—an object closely associated with Nelson—was obtained from the architect Robert Burn. Building began in 1807, and was almost complete when money ran out the following year. Burn died in 1815, and it was left to Thomas Bonnar to complete the pentagonal castellated building, which forms the base to the tower, between 1814 and 1816.
  The tower was intended as a signal mast, attended by sailors who would be accommodated within the ground floor rooms, although these were in use as a tea room by 1820. Public access was available from the start, for a small fee. The rooms were later used to house the monument's caretaker. In 2009, as part of the "Twelve Monuments Restoration Project", the tower was comprehensively restored, including repairs to stonework and metalwork. The monument is a category A listed building.
  The monument is 32 metres (105 ft) high, and has 143 steps leading to a public viewing gallery. The castellated design reflects the castellated prison buildings which stood on the south side of Calton Hill in the early 19th century.
  A plaque above the entrance to the monument carries the following dedication:
  To the memory of Vice-Admiral Horatio Lord Viscount Nelson, and of the great victory of Trafalgar, too dearly purchased with his blood, the grateful citizens of Edinburgh have erected this monument: not to express their unavailing sorrow for his death; nor yet to celebrate this matchless glories of his life; but, by his noble example, to teach their sons to emulate what they admire, and, like him, when duty requires it, to die for their country.
  AD MDCCCV
  Above the plaque is a stone carving of the San Josef, a ship captured by Nelson at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797.
caption: 1843 photo of Nelson Monument by Robert Adamson
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