Usher Hall
A whisky distiller's £100,000 gift became the room where Eurovision first came to Scotland.
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Funded entirely by Andrew Usher and open since 1914, this Beaux-Arts hall seats 2,200 and carries an unlikely event history — Eurovision 1972, compèred by Moira Shearer, was the contest's Scottish debut. The curved reinforced-concrete walls were an engineering novelty at the time, and the dome was shaped deliberately to avoid a domed interior, which the architects knew would wreck the acoustics.
What to look for
- Plaster panels by Edinburgh sculptor Harry Gamley ringing the interior — spot Robert Burns, Walter Scott, Mozart, Brahms, and Edvard Grieg among the figures
- The curved exterior walls, an unusual reinforced-concrete construction for 1914
- Two large sculpted figures on the outside of the building, representing Inspiratio (subject partially recorded)
The hall is a working venue managed by the City of Edinburgh Council — check their listings before visiting to catch a live concert rather than just the exterior.
Usher Hall is one of 28 sights worth the detour in Edinburgh, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Edinburgh pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Edinburgh
- Edinburgh CastleAttacked 26 times over 1,100 years — research calls it the most besieged place in Great Britain.
- Holyrood PalaceScotland's working royal residence since the 1500s — the actual rooms where Mary, Queen of Scots lived are open to walk through.
- The National (Scottish National Gallery)Since 1912, two near-identical neoclassical buildings have stood side by side on The Mound — visitors have been walking into the wrong one ever since.
- National Museum of ScotlandDolly the sheep, one of Elton John's extravagant suits, and a Victorian cast-iron hall — all under one free roof on Chambers Street.
- Murrayfield StadiumScotland's largest stadium opened in 1925 with a Grand Slam win — 70,000 people watched it happen.
- St Giles' CathedralA prayer book read here in 1637 caused a riot that sparked a rebellion pulling three kingdoms into war.