View source for Royal Scottish Academy Building

{{Short description|Art museum in Edinburgh, Scotland}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{infobox museum
|name =Royal Scottish Academy Building
|image = File:Edinburgh - Royal Scottish Academy Building - 20140421192731.jpg
|imagesize = 
|caption =  The Royal Scottish Academy Building seen from Princes Street
|map_type = Scotland Edinburgh Central 
|coordinates = {{coord|55.9517|-3.1963|format=dms|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
|established = {{Start date and age|1822|df=yes}}
|location = [[The Mound]]<br>[[Edinburgh]]<br>Scotland
|visitors = 
|publictransit = {{rint|edinburgh}} [[Princes Street#Tram|Princes Street]]<br/>{{rint|gb|Rail}} {{rws|Edinburgh Waverley}}
|website = {{URL|http://www.royalscottishacademy.org/}}
}}

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 architecture|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==
[[File:Alexander Nasmyth - Princes Street with the Commencement of the Building of the Royal Institution - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''[[Princes Street (painting)|Princes Street]]'', 1825 painting by [[Alexander Nasmyth]] of Princes Street, with the construction of the Royal Institution visible, right]]
[[File:RSA Edinburgh by George Meikle Kemp.jpg|thumb|The Royal Institution, Edinburgh (now the [[Royal Scottish Academy]]), by [[George Meikle Kemp]], c. 1840; watercolour and pen, 31.30 x 44.90&nbsp;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.<ref name="historicenvironment" />

The Royal Institution building was designed by the noted Scottish architect [[William Henry Playfair]] and built in 1822–6. According to the antiquary [[James Grant (1822–1887)|James Grant]], 2000 [[Pile (construction)|piles]] were driven into the ground to stabilise the foundations on the site above the [[Nor Loch]]. The construction works are depicted in an 1825 painting by [[Alexander Nasmyth]], in which Playfair can be seen supervising the erection of the fluted Doric columns.<ref name="historicenvironment" />

In 1826, a group of artists broke away from the Royal Institution after disagreements over its policies, taking the name of the ''Scottish Academy''. From 1835, the group leased gallery space in the Royal Institution building to mount exhibitions of its growing art collection, and in 1838 the group received a royal charter and became the ''Royal Scottish Academy'' (RSA). One of its key aims was to found a national art gallery for Scotland, and this was realised in 1859, when a new gallery building was built by Playfair, the [[National Gallery of Scotland]], adjacent to the RI building. The building housed RI's collection of Old Master paintings along with the RSA collection.<ref name="sng-history">{{Cite web |url=http://www.nationalgalleries.org/visit/history-architecture-121/ |title=Scottish National Gallery – History & Architecture |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140207031139/http://www.nationalgalleries.org/visit/history-architecture-121/ |archive-date=7 February 2014 |url-status=dead |access-date=27 January 2014}}</ref>

In 1831–6, the Board of Manufactures and Fisheries extended the Royal Institution.<ref name="canmore">{{cite web | url = https://canmore.org.uk/site/68128/edinburgh-77a-princes-street-royal-scottish-academy | title = Site Record for Edinburgh, 77a Princes Street, Royal Scottish Academy |publisher=[[Canmore (database)|CANMORE]] | access-date = 29 March 2023}}</ref>

At the end of the 19th century, the Society of Antiquaries relocated its museum to new premises on [[Queen Street, Edinburgh|Queen Street]] (the building that now houses the [[Scottish National Portrait Gallery]]), while the Royal Society moved to 22-24 [[George Street, Edinburgh|George Street]], and in 1907, the Royal Institution moved to the new [[Edinburgh College of Art]].<ref name="canmore"/> In 1911, the RSA, which had been sharing space in the National Gallery building since 1859, was granted permanent tenancy of the old RI building and the right to hold its annual exhibition there. The building became known as the ''Royal Scottish Academy'', a name it retains to this day. The former RI building was remodelled in 1911–12 by [[William Thomas Oldrieve]], with the addition of new galleries on the upper level.<ref name="canmore"/><ref name="companion">{{cite book |title=A Companion Guide to the National Gallery of Scotland |date=2000 |publisher=National Galleries of Scotland |isbn=978-1-903278-11-6 |page=10 |language=en}}</ref>

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.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}

==Architecture==
The RSA building is designed in the [[neo-classical architecture|neo-classical style]], modelled on a [[Ancient Greek architecture|Greek]] [[Doric temple]]. The rectangular structure is faced with [[sandstone]] [[ashlar]] stone from Culallo, Fife, and [[Craigleith]]. It is surrounded by a [[colonnade]] of [[Fluting (architecture)|fluted]] [[Doric columns]] on a [[stylobate]]. A Doric [[entablature]] runs above the columns, consisting of a sculpted [[Acanthus (ornament)|acanthus]] [[frieze]] with [[triglyph]]s. 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.<ref name="historicenvironment">{{cite web |title=77A PRINCES STREET, ROYAL SCOTTISH ACADEMY (LB27744) |url=http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/LB27744 |website=portal.historicenvironment.scot |publisher=[[Historic Environment Scotland]] |access-date=9 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121073819/http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/LB27744 |archive-date=21 January 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref>

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.<ref name="historicenvironment" />

In 2003 railings (lost in World War II) together with a series of traditional lamps, were restored around both the academy and the National Gallery behind, isolating each building from the public space here.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}

In the 2010s, the RSA building was refurbished as part of the £32 million [[Playfair Project]], and linked to the Scottish National Gallery by a subterranean public area to create a single, integrated arts complex with an additional entrance in [[Princes Street Gardens]].<ref name="playfairproject">{{cite web |title=About Us − The Playfair Project |url=http://www.nationalgalleries.org/aboutus/special-projects/the-playfair-project/ |website=nationalgalleries.org |publisher=National Galleries of Scotland |access-date=9 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120831125954/http://www.nationalgalleries.org/aboutus/special-projects/the-playfair-project// |archive-date=31 August 2012 |date=31 August 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

<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]]
</gallery>

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 [[Fluting (architecture)|fluted]] [[Doric columns]], while the SNG is distinguished by its colonnade of plainer [[Ionic columns]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Campbell |first1=Donald |title=Edinburgh : a cultural and literary history |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford : Signal |isbn=978-1-902669-72-4 |page=120 |url=https://archive.org/details/edinburghcultura0000camp/page/120/mode/2up?view=theater}}</ref>

<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
</gallery>

==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==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Royal Scottish Academy building}}
* [http://www.royalscottishacademy.org/ The Royal Scottish Academy]

{{Scottish Museums and Art Galleries}}
{{Culture and leisure facilities in Edinburgh}}

[[Category:Art museums and galleries in Edinburgh]]
[[Category:National Galleries Scotland]]
[[Category:New Town, Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Category A listed buildings in Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Neoclassical architecture in Scotland]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1826]]
[[Category:1826 establishments in Scotland]]
[[Category:Listed museum buildings in Scotland]]