We are delighted to announce that Scotland’s pre-eminent historian, Professor Sir Tom Devine, will deliver this year’s World Heritage Day lecture. Sir Tom will explore the extraordinary success of late Victorian Edinburgh – as banking house to the British Empire, as patron of the arts and architecture, and as a city of considerable luxury and opulence.

6pm, Thursday 18 April 2019

Tickets and further details are available on Eventbrite.

The city’s monuments and public works of art mark Edinburgh out as a great capital city and are one of the reasons for our UNESCO World Heritage inscription. To celebrate the publication of Professor Ray McKenzie’s new book ‘Public Sculpture of Edinburgh’ you are invited to a specially curated tour of our city’s most important sculptures.

This tour is scheduled for 6pm, Thursday 13 June 2019. Booking details to follow in due course.

A new tour of some of Edinburgh’s most important Greek Revival buildings, including the Royal High School, culminating with a drinks reception at the newly-opened Playfair ensemble of buildings at the City Observatory.

6pm, Thursday 4 July 2019 (TBC). Booking details to follow in due course.

As the conservation work to North Bridge approaches an important milestone, Adam Wilkinson, Director of Edinburgh World Heritage will give a new lecture on the background and significance of the original North Bridge, the development of the first New Town, and share some recent exciting archaeological discoveries.

This lecture is scheduled for 6pm, Thursday 12 September 2019 (TBC). Booking details to follow in due course.

Following on from her successful ‘Strike for Freedom’ exhibition on the anti-slavery author and freedom fighter Frederick Douglass at the National Library of Scotland, Professor Celeste-Marie Bernier will share her fascinating research on the history of nineteenth-century African American authors and activists in Edinburgh. Until now the stories and activities of this grass-roots movement have received little attention, and this unique lecture will provide a fresh insight into this untold aspect of our city’s revolutionary and radical history.

Professor Bernier is Personal Chair in English Literature and Professor of Black Studies at the University of Edinburgh.

October 2019, date to be confirmed.

We firmly believe that ‘fact is stranger than fiction’, and that the darker side of Edinburgh’s history needs to be revealed to a wider audience. In this new tour, we will take our guests through some of most important graveyard and closes of the Old Town to reveal some of the harsh realities of life and death in Old Edinburgh.

6pm, Thursday 14 November 2019 (TBC). Booking details will be available a month in advance.

Every year we host our Christmas Party in a historic and unusual location which is either a past or present conservation project. Previous venues have included St. Cecilia’s Hall, 25 Learmonth Terrace and the Tron. This year will be no exception, and you can expect to be taken behind the scenes at an important Edinburgh landmark for a warm and fun seasonal celebration.

6pm, Tuesday 10 December 2019 (TBC). Booking details will be available a month in advance.

A  look at Edinburgh World Heritage’s events from the past year

On Friday 15 March, Edinburgh World Heritage hosted a special half-day maintenance CPD event to explore the issues and solutions presented by the needs for regular maintenance of our historic building stock in the face of a changing climate.

In this sell-out members-only lecture on 28 February 2019, architect and former Director of Development at Panmure House, Chris Watkins, told the story of the building from the time of the Scottish Enlightenment to the present day.

Panmure House was the final residence of Adam Smith, who lived there from 1778 to 1790. This important 17th century Canongate house has recently been the subject of major conservation, adaptation and restoration work, partly funded by Edinburgh World Heritage, and has recently opened as a centre of learning for the Edinburgh Business School.