The Royal Scottish Academy building, the home of the Royal Scottish Academy, is an art museum in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is situated at the junction of The Mound and Princes Street in the centre of the city. It was built by William Henry Playfair in 1822–6. Along with the adjacent National Gallery of Scotland, their neo-classical design helped to transform Edinburgh into the cityscape known as "the Athens of the North". Today the structure is a Category A listed building.

History

thumb|[[Princes Street (painting)|Princes Street, 1825 painting by Alexander Nasmyth of Princes Street, with the construction of the Royal Institution visible, right]]

thumb|The Royal Institution, Edinburgh (now the [[Royal Scottish Academy), by George Meikle Kemp, c. 1840; watercolour and pen, 31.30 x 44.90 cm; National Galleries Scotland]]

The building was originally proposed by the Scottish Board of Manufactures and Fisheries in 1821 to provide shared accommodation for three separate cultural organisations: the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts and a museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. The building was known as the Royal Institution from 1826 to 1911.

In 1831–6, the Board of Manufactures and Fisheries extended the Royal Institution.

At the end of the 19th century, the Society of Antiquaries relocated its museum to new premises on Queen Street (the building that now houses the Scottish National Portrait Gallery), while the Royal Society moved to 22-24 George Street, and in 1907, the Royal Institution moved to the new Edinburgh College of Art.

Today, the Royal Scottish Academy Building is managed by National Galleries Scotland but a 1910 Order grants the RSA permanent administration offices in the building.

Architecture

The RSA building is designed in the neo-classical style, modelled on a Greek Doric temple. The rectangular structure is faced with sandstone ashlar stone from Culallo, Fife, and Craigleith. It is surrounded by a colonnade of fluted Doric columns on a stylobate. A Doric entablature runs above the columns, consisting of a sculpted acanthus frieze with triglyphs. The north and south elevations are fronted by prostyle octastyle porticoes surmounted by large pediments decorated with scrolled foliate carving. The east and west sides feature smaller pedimented projections.

The north portico on the Princes Street side is topped by a large statue of Queen Victoria styled as Britannia, sculpted by Sir John Steell (Playfair's original drawings indicate that a Britannia statue with a reclining lion was originally intended for the building). Each of the four corners of the building is topped by a pair of carved stone sphinxes, also by Steell.

<gallery caption="RSA architectural details" mode="packed">

File:Detail on Royal Scottish Academy on the Mound.jpg|Playfair's fine detailing

File:Queen Victoria (5720030642).jpg|Steell's rooftop statue of Queen Victoria

File:Royal Scottish Academy (4788127102).jpg|One of Playfair's Sphynxes

File:Royal Scottish Academy (5636103072).jpg|One of the side doors

File:Académie Royale Écossaise Édimbourg 9.jpg|A side portico

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The Royal Scottish Academy Building is frequently confused with the neighbouring building, the Scottish National Gallery (SNG), due to their architectural similarity. The RSA Building is surrounded by fluted Doric columns, while the SNG is distinguished by its colonnade of plainer Ionic columns.

<gallery caption="Distinguishing the two neighbouring galleries" mode="packed">

File:Royal Scottish Academy 20140319.jpg|The RSA Building with fluted Doric columns

File:Scottish National Gallery map Edinburgh.png|Both the RSA and the SNG are located on The Mound, with the SNG to the rear

File:Princess Street (i.e. Princes Street) and castle from Scott's Monument, Edinburgh, Scotland-LCCN2001705993.jpg|The RSA (right) and the SNG (left)

File:Scottish National Gallery.jpg|The Scottish National Gallery, with Ionic columns

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Exhibitions

Exhibition space is shared throughout the year by the RSA with the NGS and other exhibiting societies: the Society of Scottish Artists, Visual Arts Scotland and the Royal Society of Watercolourists.

References

  • The Royal Scottish Academy