"The Dugald Stewart Monument is a memorial to the Scottish philosopher Dugald Stewart (1753–1828). It is situated on Calton Hill overlooking the city of Edinburgh and was designed by Scottish architect William Henry Playfair. It was completed in September 1831.
Background
Playfair's design is based on the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens, Greece, and is a circular temple of eight fluted Corinthian columns around an elevated urn, on a circular podium. 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 monument is a category A listed building as of 19 April 1966. The choragic form was also used for the nearby contemporaneous Robert Burns Monument, designed by Thomas Hamilton.
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.
Playfair also designed the nearby National Monument of Scotland (with Charles Robert Cockerell) and was also responsible for the thoroughfare that encircles Calton Hill on three sides, comprising Royal Terrace, Carlton Terrace and Regent Terrace."
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dugald_Stewart_Monument
In front of the monument is an information board with the following information:
Dugald Stewart Monument
Built: 1831
Architect: William H. Playfair
This monument commemorates another key player of the Scottish Enlightenment, Dugald Stewart. Born and educated in Edinburgh, Stewart rose to fame as a writer and philosopher.
William H. Playfair modelled the monument on the ancient Greek Monument of Lysicrates in Athens, which also inspired Thomas Hamilton in his design for the Robert Burns Monument which sits on the other side of Calton Hill.