Scott Monument

Scott Monument is a Victorian Gothic monument to Scottish novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott, standing in East Princes Street Gardens in central Edinburgh. The memorial was funded by public subscription following Scott’s death in 1832, with a competition held to select its design. George Meikle Kemp, a largely self-taught architect with a particular interest in medieval Scottish architecture, won the commission with a Gothic design influenced by buildings such as Melrose Abbey. Construction began in 1840 and the monument was completed in 1844, although Kemp did not live to see it finished after drowning in the Union Canal earlier that year. The monument opened to the public in August 1846 and rises approximately 61 metres above Princes Street Gardens. Beneath its elaborate spire sits a Carrara marble statue of Scott by Sir John Steell, showing the writer seated with his deerhound Maida, while numerous smaller figures representing characters from Scott’s works and figures from Scottish literature decorate the structure. A series of narrow spiral staircases leads through the monument to viewing galleries overlooking Princes Street, Edinburgh Castle, the Old Town and the New Town.

Scott Monument has appeared in Death Defying Acts (2008) and Cloud Atlas (2012). Death Defying Acts (2008), which is set in Edinburgh in 1926, uses the monument during a nighttime outing involving Harry Houdini, Mary McGarvie and her daughter Benji. Cloud Atlas (2012) gives the landmark an even more important role in the story of composer Robert Frobisher, who repeatedly climbs the monument during his final days in Edinburgh and sees his lover Rufus Sixsmith there shortly before his death. In both films the production makes use of the monument itself rather than simply including its distinctive Gothic spire in establishing shots of the city.

In Death Defying Acts (2008), Scott Monument appears during Harry Houdini’s stay in Edinburgh, where the famous escapologist has offered a $10,000 reward to anyone capable of revealing the final words spoken by his late mother. Struggling performer and fraudulent psychic Mary McGarvie sets out to win the money with the help of her young daughter Benji, but her relationship with Houdini becomes increasingly personal as the three spend time together. During one of these outings, Houdini takes Mary and Benji up the Scott Monument at night. The sequence makes use of the real monument and its elevated galleries, placing the characters high above Edinburgh as Houdini becomes more closely involved with the two women he initially encountered through his challenge. The scene is one of several sequences filmed around Edinburgh for the production, which used the city itself to represent its 1926 setting.

In Cloud Atlas (2012), Scott Monument becomes one of the central locations in the 1930s story of young composer Robert Frobisher and his lover Rufus Sixsmith. After leaving the home of composer Vyvyan Ayrs, Frobisher hides in Edinburgh while completing his Cloud Atlas Sextet and continues writing letters to Sixsmith. He tells him that he climbs the steps of the Scott Monument every morning, describing the experience as one in which everything becomes clear to him. Near the end of his story, Frobisher climbs the monument to watch what he intends to be his final sunrise before taking his own life. Sixsmith, who has come to Edinburgh searching for him, arrives at the monument, and Frobisher sees him from another part of the structure. Although the two are physically close, Frobisher deliberately remains hidden and watches Sixsmith leave rather than revealing himself. The scene turns the monument’s narrow stairways, separate galleries and views across Edinburgh into an important part of the tragedy, visually reinforcing the distance between two characters who are almost reunited.

Scott Monument (2026)

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