053 UNITED KINGDOM - Edinburgh Castle (WHS)

This postcard is definitly one of my all time favorites. Edinburgh Castle is only one of the UNESCO World Heritage Site which has the official name "Old and New Towns of Edinburgh". Edinburgh Castle marks the centre of the Old Town.
Edinburgh Castle is an historic fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland from its position on the Castle Rock. Archaeologists have established human occupation of the rock since at least the Iron Age (2nd century AD), although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. There has been a royal castle on the rock since at least the reign of David I in the 12th century and the site continued to be a royal residence until the Union of the Crowns in 1603. From the 15th century the castle's residential role declined and by the 17th century it was principally used as military barracks with a large garrision. Its importance as a part of Scotland's national heritage was recognised increasingly from the early 19th century onwards and various restoration programmes have been carried out over the past century and a half. As one of the most important strongholds in the Kingdom of Scotland, Edinburgh Castle was involved in many historical conflicts from the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century to the Jacobite Rising of 1745. It has been besieged, both successfully and unsuccessfully, on several occasions.

Few of the present buildings pre-date the Lang Siege of the 16th century, when the medieval defences were largely destroyed by artillery bombardment. The most notable exceptions are St Margaret's Chapel from the early 12th century, which is regarded as the oldest building in Edinburgh, the Royal Palace and the early-16th-century Great Hall, although the interiors have been much altered from the mid-Victorian period onwards. The castle also houses the Scottish regalia, known as the Honours of Scotland and is the site of the Scottish National War Memorial and the National War Museum of Scotland. The British army is still responsible for some parts of the castle, although its represence is now largely ceremonial and administrative.

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pcbuyer (postcrossing) sent from Gourock (UK, Scotland) on 25.10.2013