Watercolour of Carlton Hill and the National monument of Scotland.
The National Monument of Scotland is the unfinished neoclassical memorial on Calton Hill in Edinburgh, built to honour Scottish soldiers and sailors who died in the Napoleonic Wars. It was designed in the 1820s by Charles Robert Cockerell and William Henry Playfair, modelled on the Parthenon, and left incomplete after funding ran out in 1829.
The monument was intended to be “A Memorial of the Past and Incentive to the Future Heroism of the Men of Scotland”. Its unfinished state helped give rise to nicknames such as “Scotland’s Folly” and “Edinburgh’s Disgrace”. It remains one of Edinburgh’s most recognisable landmarks and part of the city’s “Athens of the North” image. It sits next to Nelson's Monument
 
The ambition of Carlton Hill was amazing. A series of monuments and symbol of national pride. The National Monument actually feels more romantic incomplete referring to a future not yet written.
 
Interesting facts...
Calton Hill itself is volcanic, so the monuments sit on a very old geological core beneath all the neoclassical symbolism.