UoE : A Window on the Past

Explore the origins and development of The University of Edinburgh, centred on the site of the Old College Quadrangle.

The story of this location involves churches, battles, queens, murder, world-changing discoveries and much besides…

You have the opportunity to learn more about this history and, in particular, the archaeology and architectural development of Old College, through this interactive app which has been commissioned by the University as a guide to help visitors navigate and explore the site.

The app presents a 3-dimensional visualisation of the site based upon extensive recent archaeological excavations and a broad range of historical and early visual sources.

Use the app’s interactive timeslider to chart the evolution, history and architectural development of this complex site over 800 years:

From ecclesiastical origins in the 13th century – the Kirk O’ Field - to the later medieval foundation as a small monastic community.

The dramatic Renaissance history of the site, including its destruction by the English in the 1540s during the ‘Rough Wooing’; as the residence of Regent Arran, Duke of Chateauherault; through the Scottish Reformation; and, most notoriously, as the scene of the murder of Lord Darnley.

The foundation of the ‘Tounis College’ for 80 scholars by the Town Council in 1583, the first civic university foundation in the British Isles.

Follow the continuing expansion of the college complex through the 17th and 18th centuries through to its late 18th century apogee as the power-house of the Scottish Enlightenment, influential on the European stage.

The successive demolition of the crumbling early college buildings and their replacement by Robert Adam’s and William Playfair’s magnificent Old College Quadrangle scheme.

Old College is still the very heart of the University which, from its original 80 scholars, is now a world-renowned institution with a student body of 30,000.