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A statue of the Greek goddess Hygeia stands prominently in the centre of the monumemt called St Bernard's Well in Edinburgh.

St Bernard's Well


St Bernard’s Well sits alongside the Water of Leith, five minutes from bustling Stockbridge. Built in the 1790s, it is standing strong over 200 years later. The building was designed by Scottish painter Alexander Nasmyth. Visitors to the exterior can see a statue of Hygeia, the Greek goddess of health, under a domed canopy supported by ten columns.


The interior of the well building can sometimes be viewed on Doors Open Days. A celestial ceiling covers a room centred on a pump where spring water was dispensed through a lion’s mouth. The spring itself was in use as a source of health-giving water from the 1750s onwards. The well closed in 1940. A Latin inscription on the pump reads “Bibendo Valeris”: Drink and you will be well.


St Bernard’s Well tells many stories. It shows the 18th and 19th century interest in spring water as a form of health treatment, linking back to practices undertaken by the Greeks and Romans. The style of the building and its forms of decoration show the late 1700s and 1800s fascination with Greek art and architecture, which fits in with other Edinburgh New Town buildings like the Royal Scottish Academy on Princes Street or the National Monument on Calton Hill.