This panoramic view of Edinburgh was taken from the ramparts of the castle. It shows the newly-built Scott Monument on the left, in the centre is the railway station, and behind, Calton Hill. The empty space in the middle is the building site where work is about to begin on William Henry Playfair's neoclassical building, the National Gallery of Scotland. Together with the Royal Institution (now the Royal Scottish Academy building), just visible on the left, it was expected to make a handsome transition on the Mound between the two halves of the city.