Marischal College
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marischal College is a building in the Scottish city of Aberdeen belonging to the University of Aberdeen. It was formerly an independent university in its own right.
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[edit] History & Background
Marischal College and University of Aberdeen was the formal name of the former university, founded in 1593 by George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal of Scotland. It is believed that Keith desired a protestant institution alongside the pre-Reformation King's College, but King's had been Protestant since 1569. It is possible that the founding of another college in nearby Fraserburgh in 1592 was the true cause; its founder Sir Alexander Fraser was a business rival of Marischal.
The College was constructed on the site of a medieval Franciscan Friary, disused after the Reformation. This building was later replaced by a William Adam designed building in the mid-18th century, however this, together with the Friary remains, were demolished entirely for the construction of the present building between 1835 and 1906. The college's motto was 'APETH ATARKHS' - 'virtue is self-sufficient'.
[edit] University of Aberdeen
The university was created after the merger of Marischal College and King's College, Aberdeen in 1860.
The following extract refers to this merger:[1]
- "Universities of Kings College and Marischal College, Aberdeen. First Report of the Commissioners, 1838. 1837-38. Vol. XXXIII, 75p. [123] Chairman: Lord John Cunninghame.
- The commissioners were in favour of a merger of the two colleges despite opposition from Kings College. They considered the unification as essential for the educational system of Northern Scotland although they disagreed with the proposed method of merger laid down by the last commission. The buildings of Marischal College were in very bad repair but new ones were under construction. Additions had been made in 1827 to Kings College buildings which were in a tolerable state of repair."
The building standing today, which replaced a number of older structures, was constructed between 1837 and 1844 by Aberdeen architect Archibald Simpson. This 1837 building formed a U-shaped quadrangle, with a small entrance via an archway amidst unrelated housing on the west side. The building was substantially extended between 1893 and 1905 by Alexander Marshall Mackenzie, and with its new "granite cage" front, enclosing the quadrangle, it became the second-largest granite building in the world (exceeded only by the Escorial Palace near Madrid).[2]
[edit] Present use
At present, the only parts of the college building used chiefly by the university are the Mitchell Hall the Marischal Museum and the Anatomy department which is still used for 1st year medicine students. The Museum is open free to the public and was re-established in 1907. It is also home to the University's Debating chamber.
The university has leased the Marischal College site as its headquarters of the building let to Aberdeen City Council for 175 years in exchange for £4.7 million.[3]
[edit] Alumni
Notable alumni of Marischal College include:
- James Burnett, Lord Monboddo (1714-99), jurist, philosopher, linguist; thinker on evolution
- Robert Brown (1773-1858), botanist; discoverer of Brownian Motion
- Sir James Outram, 1st Baronet, General, hero of the Indian Mutiny, buried in Westminster Abbey[4]
- Rev. John Skinner (1721-1807), poet, historian and ecclesiastic.
- Alexander Keith, D.D. Church of Scotland theologian
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- The Marischal Museum
- The Marischal Virtual Museum
- The now abandoned project to make Marischal a hotel
- The University of Aberdeen
- Aberdeen City Council
