There are three chances to view the beautiful interior of St Bernard's Well, for free, this month.
Volunteers will staff the well-house (by the Water of Leith between Stockbridge and Dean Bridge) on 8, 15 and 22 August between noon and 3pm.
The structure was designed by the Broughton landscape painter, architect, scientist and engineer Alexander Nasmyth (1758–1840), whom we featured in Issue 181.
Built in 1789, it was modelled on the Sybil's Temple in the Tivoli Gardens near Rome, which Nasmyth had visited as a young man on the Grand Tour. It was commissioned by Lord Gardenstone, a wealthy Edinburgh lawyer, who claimed to have benefited from the mineral spring here and was not averse to charging others for the same pleasure. Well into the 19th century, the site remained a fashionable resort and was sketched or painted innumerable times by professional and amateur artists.
The marble statue of Hygeia (Goddess of Health), pictured, is a Victorian replacement for the original (carved from inferior, synthetic Coade stone which deteriorated). Below and within, the interior has a ' wonderful blue "Cosmati" mosaic ceiling with a golden sun', and interesting acoustics.