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The Edinburgh Portal
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Edinburgh (/ˈɛdɪnbərə/ ⓘ, ED-in-bər-ə; Scots: [ˈɛdɪnbʌrə]; Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Èideann [t̪un ˈeːtʲən̪ˠ]) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth estuary and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh had a population of 506,520 in 2020, making it the second-most populous city in Scotland and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom. The wider metropolitan area had a population of 912,490 in the same year.

Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is the seat of the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament, the highest courts in Scotland, and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the official residence of the monarch in Scotland. It is also the annual venue of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The city has long been a centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scottish law, literature, philosophy, the sciences and engineering. The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582 and now one of three in the city, is considered one of the best research institutions in the world. The financial centre of Scotland, Edinburgh is the second-largest financial centre in the United Kingdom, the fourth largest in Europe, and the thirteenth largest internationally.

The city is a cultural centre, and is the home of institutions including the National Museum of Scotland, the National Library of Scotland and the Scottish National Gallery. The city is also known for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe, the latter being the world's largest annual international arts festival. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the churches of St. Giles, Greyfriars and the Canongate, and the extensive Georgian New Town built in the 18th/19th centuries. Edinburgh's Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999. The city's historical and cultural attractions have made it the UK's second-most visited tourist destination, attracting 4.9 million visits, including 2.4 million from overseas in 2018. (Full article...)

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National Gallery of Scotland

Edinburgh has many museums and libraries. These include the National Museum of Scotland, the National Library of Scotland, National War Museum, the Museum of Edinburgh, Surgeons' Hall Museum, the Writers' Museum, the Museum of Childhood and Dynamic Earth. The Museum on The Mound has exhibits on money and banking.

Edinburgh Zoo, covering 82 acres (33 ha) on Corstorphine Hill, is the second most visited paid tourist attraction in Scotland, and was previously home to two giant pandas, Tian Tian and Yang Guang, on loan from the People's Republic of China. Edinburgh is also home to The Royal Yacht Britannia, decommissioned in 1997 and now a five-star visitor attraction and evening events venue permanently berthed at Ocean Terminal. (Full article...)

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Selected transportation article

Edinburgh Airport main runway and air traffic control tower.

Edinburgh Airport is 8 miles (13 km) to the west of the city centre, on the A8 trunk road, and is the principal international gateway to the city, as well as the busiest airport in Scotland. Since June 2024, it has been jointly owned and operated by Vinci SA and Global Infrastructure Partners. The airport serves a wide range of domestic and an expanding number of European, transatlantic and Middle East destinations, handling over 12 million passengers per year.

The main terminal building was built in 1977 by the Edinburgh architect Robert Matthew, and was substantially extended and modernised in the late 1990s. A £14m project to construct a new international pier, further increasing capacity, was completed in 2006. (Full article...)

Selected area article

Location within the City of Edinburgh council area

Alnwickhill (/ˈænɪkhɪl/ ⓘ AN-ik-hill) is a suburb of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is on the southern edge of the city, approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) from the city centre. It neighbours the areas of Liberton and Kaimes.

The area is now primarily residential, but was the site of Backside Lee Farm until the 1970s when the land was sold to Crudens for development. (Full article...)

Selected environment article

Like most of Scotland, Edinburgh has a cool temperate maritime climate (Cfb) which, despite its northerly latitude, is milder than places which lie at similar latitudes such as Moscow and Labrador. The city's proximity to the sea mitigates any large variations in temperature or extremes of climate. Winter daytime temperatures rarely fall below freezing while summer temperatures are moderate, rarely exceeding 22 °C (72 °F). The highest temperature recorded in the city was 31.6 °C (88.9 °F) on 25 July 2019 at Gogarbank, beating the previous record of 31 °C (88 °F) on 4 August 1975 at Edinburgh Airport. The lowest temperature recorded in recent years was −14.6 °C (5.7 °F) during December 2010 at Gogarbank.

Given Edinburgh's position between the coast and hills, it is renowned as "the windy city", with the prevailing wind direction coming from the south-west, which is often associated with warm, unstable air from the North Atlantic Current that can give rise to rainfall – although considerably less than cities to the west, such as Glasgow. Rainfall is distributed fairly evenly throughout the year. Winds from an easterly direction are usually drier but considerably colder, and may be accompanied by haar, a persistent coastal fog. Vigorous Atlantic depressions, known as European windstorms, can affect the city between October and April. (Full article...)

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Selected arts article

St Mary's Music School is a music school in Scotland in the West End of Edinburgh, for children aged 9 to 19 and is also the Choir School of St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral. The school, which is non-denominational, provides education for children with a special talent in music, and is Scotland's only full-time independent specialist music school. In 2023, the school had 64 pupils from many different backgrounds coming from all parts of Scotland, the rest of the UK and abroad. (Full article...)

Selected education article

Edinburgh Napier University (Scottish Gaelic: Oilthigh Napier Dhùn Èideann) is a public university in Edinburgh, Scotland. Napier Technical College, the predecessor of the university, was founded in 1964, taking its name from 16th-century Scottish mathematician and philosopher John Napier. The technical college was inaugurated as a university in 1992 by Lord Douglas-Hamilton, becoming Napier University. In 2009, the university was renamed Edinburgh Napier University.

The university is based around its three main Edinburgh campuses: Merchiston, Craiglockhart, and Sighthill. It has over 21,000 students, including those on-campus in Scotland and others studying transnational programmes abroad and online. In 2018 this included nearly 9,500 international and EU students, from more than 140 nations worldwide. (Full article...)

Selected sports article

Hibernian Football Club (/hɪˈbɜːrniən/), commonly known as Hibs, is a professional football club in Edinburgh, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football. The club was founded in 1875 by members of Edinburgh's Irish community, and the name is derived from the Latin for Ireland. The Irish heritage of Hibernian is reflected in the name, colours and badge of the club. The green main shirt colour is usually accompanied by white sleeves and shorts. Their local rivals are Heart of Midlothian, with whom they contest the Edinburgh derby.

Home matches are played at Easter Road, which has been in use since 1893, when the club joined the Scottish Football League. The name of the club is regularly shortened to Hibs, with the team also being known as The Hibees (pronounced /ˈhaɪbiːz/) and supporters known as Hibbies. Another nickname is The Cabbage, derived from the shortened rhyming slang for Hibs ("Cabbage and Ribs"). (Full article...)

Selected religion article

Shown within Edinburgh

The Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, also known as St Mary's Metropolitan Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic church in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh and the mother church of Scots Catholicism. The cathedral church is located at the East End of New Town in the city center. (Full article...)

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