Edinburgh 1700s (AI Reconstruction)

Video Description

Step into Edinburgh before the New Town, when the city was dense, defensive, and shaped by centuries of pressure. This video explores 18th-century Edinburgh through its streets, landmarks, and hidden edges — from the castle rock and crowded High Street to vanished features like the Nor Loch. Using modern AI tools and historic paintings, maps, and engravings, the past is reconstructed in motion, allowing us to move through these scenes and experience the city as it once was. Stay until the end to see how these same places compare to Edinburgh today. 00:00 Intro 00:43 Year 1450 01:35 South Side Edinburgh 02:30 Edinburgh Castle 05:04 Holyrood 07:58 North Facing view of Edinburgh 08:57 Nor Loch 09:39 North Bridge 10:47 Edinburgh Castle and Nor Loch 11:26 St. Giles' Cathedral 13:09 The Tron Kirk 14:40 South Side of The Castle 15:06 West View of The City 15:38 Golf 16:28 Heriot's Hospital 17:20 The Royal Infirmary 17:54 The Netherbow Port 18:38 The Old Tolbooth 20:10 High Street 21:22 Today 24:53 Outro Current day picture attribution Title: Edinburgh Castle aerial photograph Creator: 瑞丽江的河水 Date: 19 April 2025 Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b1/Edinburgh_Castle_-_aerial_-_2025-04-19_03.jpg/960px-Edinburgh_Castle_-_aerial_-_2025-04-19_03.jpg?20250617193531 Copyright: © 2025 瑞丽江的河水 License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Disclaimer: This image is provided under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. You are free to share and adapt the material provided appropriate credit is given. Bird's-eye view of the palace and abbey, including the western towers By Saffron Blaze - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18407765 Aerial view of St Giles' Cathedral By 瑞丽江的河水 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=167897326 St Cuthbert's Church, Edinburgh (foreground); the view, to the NorthWest, is from Edinburgh Castle; the perpendicular-style building farther away, top centre, is St John's Episcopal Church By StevenL, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52530561 Main entrance of Edinburgh Futures Institute By Arcaist - Own work, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=149822885 The Tron in 2012 By Kim Traynor - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18167978 George Heriot's Hospital Founded from a bequest by George Heriot, goldsmith to James VI, the building of the school for the orphans of Edinburgh burgesses was begun in 1628. It was garrisoned by Cromwell's troops during the Commonwealth's occupation of Scotland between 1650 and 1660. The clock tower is a later addition from 1693. The building faces north, the entrance being reached originally from the Grassmarket. Now it is more usually seen from the rear, from Lauriston Place. By kim traynor, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14155548 Edinburgh. View from Calton Hill. By Oliver-Bonjoch - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4130645 The Princes Street Gardens and some buildings - left to right, the Scott Monument, the North British Hotel, Nelson's Monument and the City Observatory on Calton Hill, two bridges (Waverley in the foreground, North in the back), rooftops of Waverley Station - in Edinburgh, Scotland. Source: Jaakko Sakari Reinikainen By No machine-readable author provided. Ulayiti assumed (based on copyright claims). - No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=262927