Historic Building sights in Edinburgh
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Real Mary King's Close
Across from St Giles is the City Chambers, originally built by John Adam (brother of Robert) between 1753 and 1761 to serve as the Royal Exchange – a covered meeting place for city merchants. However, the merchants preferred their old stamping ground in the street and the building became the city council offices in 1811.
Part of the Royal Exchange was built over the sealed-off remains of Mary King's Close, and the lower levels of this medieval Old Town alley have survived almost unchanged in the foundations of the City Chambers for 250 years. Now open to the public as the Real Mary King's Close, this spooky, subterranean labyrinth gives a fascinating insight into the dai…
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National Trust for Scotland
The headquarters of the National Trust is on the southern side of the square. As well as a shop, cafe and information desk, the building contains a restored 1820s drawing room with Regency furniture and a collection of 20th-century Scottish paintings.
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Gilmerton Cove
While ghost tours of Edinburgh's underground vaults and haunted graveyards have become a mainstream attraction, few tourists have yet explored Gilmerton Cove. Hidden in the southern suburbs, the mysterious cove is a series of manmade subterranean caverns hacked out of the rock, their origin and function unknown. Book through Rosslyn Tours.
And finally, if you're in Edinburgh on the first Friday of August, head west to the village of Queensferry to see the bizarre Burry Man. As part of the village gala day, a local man spends nine hours roaming the streets wearing a woolly suit, which has been laboriously covered from head to toe in big, green, prickly burrs. One glance at …
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