Calton Hill (archaically spelt Caltoun or Caldoun and known colloquially as "the Calton Hill"), is a hill in central Edinburgh, Scotland, just to the east of Princes Street and is included in the city's UNESCO World Heritage Site. Views of, and from, the hill are often used in photographs and paintings of the city.
Calton Hill is the headquarters of the Scottish Government, which is based at St Andrew's House, on the steep southern slope of the hill; with the Scottish Parliament Building, and other notable buildings, for example Holyrood Palace, lying near the foot of the hill. The hill also includes several iconic monuments and buildings: the National Monument, the Nelson Monument, the Dugald Stewart Monument, the old Royal High School, the Robert Burns Monument, the Political Martyrs' Monument and the City Observatory.
The Dugald Stewart Monument is a memorial to the Scottish philosopher Dugald Stewart (1753–1828). It is situated on Calton Hill overlooking Edinburgh city centre and was completed in August 1831.
Dugald Stewart was a professor at the University of Edinburgh, holding the chair of moral philosophy from 1786 until his death. The Royal Society of Edinburgh commissioned the monument and selected its site in 1830.
The monument is modeled on the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens, Greece and is a circular temple of 9 fluted Corinthian columns around an elevated urn. This example of the architecture of ancient Greece had been brought to wider attention by James "Athenian" Stuart and Nicholas Revett's illustrated survey, The Antiquities of Athens, published in 1762.
The Choragic Monument also provided the model for the nearby Robert Burns Monument, designed by Thomas Hamilton around the same time. The monument forms part of a collection of Greek Revival architecture in the area, including the National Monument and the former Royal High School building. The monument is a category A listed building as of 19 April 1966.