Marischal College

Statue of king Robert the Bruce in front of Marischal College.

Marischal College from the rear, showing Mitchell Tower and Mitchell Hall

Bust of James Clerk Maxwell by Charles d’Orville Pilkington Jackson. Located in the Mitchell Hall of Marischal College

Marischal College and University of Aberdeen was the formal name of the former university which occupied the present Marischal College site. The College was founded in 1593 by George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal of Scotland. The original charter of the university was lost by the early 18th century, but two near-contemporary copies exist – one of which was accepted by the courts in 1756 as being authentic.[5][6] In this charter, Marischal College is described variously as a gymnasium, collegium (college), academia (academy) and universitas (university).[5]

Marischal was the second of Scotland's post-mediaeval 'civic universities', following the University of Edinburgh, created without Papal bull and with a more modern structure and a greater resemblance to the Protestant arts colleges of continental Europe.[7] As such, both Edinburgh and Marischal came to be known as the 'Town Colleges' of their respective cities. The university was founded with the expressed aim of training clergy for the post-Reformation Kirk.[5] It is believed that Keith desired a protestant institution alongside the pre-Reformation King's College, although 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 Greek motto translates as "virtue is self-sufficient".

James Clerk Maxwell FRS, FRSE (1831-1879), described as "the most famous and influential professor Aberdeen has ever had"[8] was appointed as Professor of Natural Philosophy in 1856 and continued in that post until the merger of Marischal College with Kings College.

The Mitchell Hall, where University of Aberdeen graduations previously took place, was built in the early 20th century. It is named for Dr Charles Mitchell, an alumnus of the university and a Tyneside shipbuilder. A large stained-glass window dominates the hall, executed by TR Spence of London and representing the university's history.[9]

The building was commended by poet John Betjeman following a visit to Aberdeen in 1947:

Detail of ornately carved granite pinnacles on the facade of Marischal College, following restoration

"No-one can dismiss Marischal College, Aberdeen, when looking at the work of the present century. Wedged behind a huge town hall in an expensive and attractive mid-Victorian baronial style, I saw a cluster of silver-white pinnacles. I turned down a lane towards them, the front broadened out. Oh! Bigger than any cathedral, tower on tower, forests of pinnacles, a group of palatial buildings rivalled only by the Houses of Parliament at Westminster.

"This was the famous Marischal College. Imagine the Victorian tower with a spire on top, and all that well-grouped architecture below of lesser towers, and lines of pinnacles executed in the hardest white Kemnay granite and looking out over the grey-green North Sea and you have some idea of the first impression this gigantic building creates.

"It rises on top of a simple Gothic one designed by Simpson in 1840. But all these spires and towers and pinnacles are the work of this century and were designed by Sir Alexander Marshall Mackenzie. You have to see them to believe them."[10]

There is an urban legend that Marischal College was Adolf Hitler's favourite building in the United Kingdom and that he would have liked to use it as a residence if the outcome of the Second World War had been different.[11] This was a fabrication by students at the University of Aberdeen and David Webster, a noted Aberdeen historian.

The University of Aberdeen was created after the merger of Marischal College and King's College, Aberdeen in 1860 under the terms of the Universities (Scotland) Act 1858.

The following extract refers to this merger:[12]

"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." Throughout the 20th century, Marischall college housed all sciences and medicine. Since about 1960, the college housed the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Medical school.

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).[13]

Prior to restoration

After restoration

Marischal College before and after restoration

For many years, much of the building was derelict as university departments had moved to King's College or Foresterhill years or decades before. Up to 2009, the only parts of the college building chiefly used by the university were the Mitchell Hall (for graduations, concerts and other events), the Marischal Museum, and the Anatomy department, which was used for 1st year medical students until March 2009. It was also home to the University's debating chamber.

In 2006 plans were announced for the renovation of the college as new administrative headquarters for the Council to replace the ageing St. Nicholas House across the street.[14] The University leased the Marischal College site to Aberdeen City Council for 175 years in exchange for £4.7 million.[14] Work began in 2009 and the newly refurbished Marischal College was opened in summer 2011. The derelict internal spaces were completely demolished and replaced with a new internal structure which matched exactly to the existing walls and windows. The renovations restored the granite exterior, ornamentation and detailing to their original glory, and provided new public space for citizens accessing council services and state-of-the-art offices for council workers. The Council Chamber and democratic processes continue to be located at the Town House next door. The university retained the north wing comprising the Mitchell Hall, debating chamber and associated rooms, although as of May 2012 these are not yet open for use. In Spring 2011, the city erected outside Marischal College a statue of King Robert the Bruce on horseback, holding up a charter.[15]

Amongst the buildings demolished to make way for the new frontage of Marischal College at the turn of the 20th century, was the Greyfriars collegiate church, built in 1532 and incorporated as part of the College in 1593. Following a dispute regarding the conservation of this church, a new church building was constructed within the Marischal College complex. It is incorporated into the College frontage, which includes the southern tower, notable for being surmounted with a spire.[16]

The southern tower of the Marischal College frontage – the spire of Greyfriars Church, Alexander Marshall Mackenzie, 1903

Following a merger, this church was later to become known as Greyfriars John Knox Church.[17] The building is currently unused and is being offered for sale by the Church of Scotland for commercial or residential use.[18]

Notable alumni of Marischal College include:
(See University of Aberdeen[19] for eminent scientists, Fellows of the Royal Society, who have worked at Marishal College.)

• Alexander Bain (1818–1903), philosopher, educationalist, Professor of Logic and Lord Rector of University of Aberdeen
• James Blair, (1656–1743), clergyman, founder of College of William and Mary
• Robert Brown (1773–1858), botanist; discoverer of Brownian Motion
• James Burnett, Lord Monboddo (1714–99), jurist, philosopher, linguist; thinker on evolution
• Patrick Copland (1749-1822)
• Robert Davidson (1804–1894), Pioneer and inventor of first electric locomotive (1837)
• Sir William Duff Gibbon (1837-1919), pioneer tea planter in Ceylon 56 years, Member of Legislative Council, President of Planters Assoc.
• Sir David Gill, (1843–1914), astrophotographer
• James Gregory (1638–1675), Scottish mathematician and astronomer
• Cosmo Gordon (1736-1800) MP, co-founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, twice Rector of the College
• Robert Hunter (1823–1897), missionary, geologist and editor of Encyclopædic Dictionary
• Alexander Keith Church of Scotland theologian
• Nathaniel Lardner (1684–1768), English theologian
• Sir John Mowlem Burt, contractor
• Sir James Outram, 1st Baronet, General, hero of the Indian Mutiny, buried in Westminster Abbey
• Sir Alexander Ogston, Scottish surgeon; discoverer of Staphylococcus aureus
• Rev John Skinner (1721–1807), poet, historian and ecclesiastic.
• William Trail (1746-1831), mathematician.

• List of early modern universities in Europe

• Media related to Marischal College at Wikimedia Commons
• e-Architect coverage of Marischal College Redevelopment
• The Marischal Museum
• The University of Aberdeen