Picardy Place — Doyle's Lost Deduction

Your investigation begins at the main entrance of Old College, University of Edinburgh. This building, constructed between 1789 and 1827 by Robert Adam with its 70-meter wide neoclassical facade, has housed the Faculty of Law since 1834. A Category A listed historic building, it even served as a military hospital during World War II (1939-1945). Here, young Doyle sharpened his observational skills, listening to lectures and watching the students and professors who passed through its halls. The first pieces of the puzzle await you on these stones imbued with knowledge.

Continue towards The Quartermile, a complex developed between 2002 and 2007 on the former site of the Royal Infirmary hospital (1729-1999). Although contemporary, designed by Foster + Partners with 170 homes, offices, and shops, it integrates vestiges of the 18th-century hospital into its public spaces. This contrast between old and new, between ancient medicine and modern architecture, provides fertile ground for reflection. The shadows of the patients and doctors who walked these grounds might hold fragments of the truth you are seeking on this visit to Edinburgh.

The path then leads you to Surgeons' Hall, built in 1832 by William Playfair in a Greek Revival style. It has housed the Surgeons' Museum since its foundation and contains over 3000 pathological specimens collected in the 19th century. This venue for medical conferences is intimately linked to Joseph Lister, pioneer of antisepsis (1827-1912), whose innovations revolutionized surgery. The anatomical secrets and scientific advancements revealed here by augmented reality clues will give you a different perspective on Victorian medicine and the mysteries of the human body, essential to your investigation in Edinburgh and Lothians.

Your journey takes you to Greyfriars Kirkyard, an active cemetery since 1562, with over 1100 monuments from the 17th-18th centuries. This is where Greyfriars Bobby, the faithful dog who died in 1872, guards his master's grave (1855-1859). This place was also a site of Covenanter persecutions, with 1200 signatories imprisoned in 1679. The melancholy of the place and tales of fidelity and suffering invite introspection, while the inscriptions on the gravestones, revealed by your phone, hide coded messages to advance in your treasure hunt in Edinburgh.

The exploration continues at the National Museum of Scotland, opened in 1861 as the Industrial Museum. Its 69-meter long Grand Gallery extension was completed in 1998. With over 3 million objects, including the Stone of Scone used for Scottish coronations since 1296, this museum is a condensed history of Scotland. Your investigation in Edinburgh and Lothians will then take you to Parliament Square, site of the Scottish Parliament until its dissolution in 1707, and St Giles' Cathedral, a parish church since 1110 and the site of the signing of the National Covenant in 1638. By the end of this thematic circuit, you will have not only solved Doyle's enigma but also discovered the deep soul of Edinburgh, a city where every stone tells a story, every alley hides a secret, and every historic monument is a piece of a temporal puzzle.