St Magnus Cathedral dominates the skyline of Kirkwall, the main town of Orkney, a group of islands off the north coast of mainland Scotland. It is the oldest cathedral in Scotland, and the most northerly cathedral in the United Kingdom, a fine example of Romanesque architecture built for the bishops of Orkney when the islands were ruled by the Norse Earls of Orkney. It is owned not by the church, but by the burgh of Kirkwall as a result of an act of King James III of Scotland following Orkney's annexation by the Scottish Crown in 1468. It has its own dungeon.
Construction began in 1137, and it was added to over the next 300 years. The first bishop was William the Old, and the diocese was under the authority of the Archbishop of Nidaros in Norway. It was for Bishop William that the nearby Bishop's Palace was built.
Before the Reformation, the cathedral was presided over by the Bishop of Orkney, whose seat was in Kirkwall. Today, it is a parish church of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and therefore technically no longer a cathedral.
^Historic Environment Scotland. "Broad Street, St Magnus Cathedral... (LB36668)". Retrieved 12 October 2021.
and 22 Related for: St Magnus Cathedral information
StMagnusCathedral dominates the skyline of Kirkwall, the main town of Orkney, a group of islands off the north coast of mainland Scotland. It is the...
1137 initiated the construction of StMagnusCathedral in Kirkwall. The London church was not linked to StMagnus of Orkney before the 18th century, when...
Reformation in the 16th century. Glasgow Cathedral and StMagnusCathedral in Orkney are the only medieval cathedrals in Scotland to have survived the Reformation...
MagnusCathedral (Faroese: Kirkjubømúrurin, Magnus-katedralurin, Danish: Magnuskatedralen) is a ruined cathedral in the village of Kirkjubøur on the island...
martyrdom of Magnus Erlendsson, who was killed in April 1116 by his cousin Haakon Paulsson, resulted in the building of StMagnusCathedral, still today...
farmland and is known for its corncrakes and StMagnus Church, dedicated or re-dedicated to Saint Magnus, who was killed on the island in 1117 by an axe...
Earl, and this became StMagnusCathedral. When the cathedral, begun in 1137, was ready for consecration the relics of StMagnus were transferred there...
a pilgrimage to Rome. The seat of the diocese was transferred to StMagnusCathedral, Kirkwall in the later 12th century, though the Bishops of Orkney...
reliquaries of St. Olaf and St. Augustine (Eystein) were taken away, sent to Copenhagen and melted. The bones of St. Olaf were buried in the cathedral, and the...
Perth Cathedral of The Isles St Machar's Aberdeen Brechin Dornoch Dunblane Dunkeld St Giles' Edinburgh St Mungo's Glasgow StMagnus Kirkwall St Moluag's...
The StMagnus International Festival is an annual, week-long arts festival which takes place at midsummer on the islands of Orkney, off the north coast...
Crescent. At the heart of the town stands StMagnusCathedral, which was founded in memory of Saint Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney 1108–1117 by Earl...
(Kent, England) Gothic door of the StMagnusCathedral (Kirkwall, Scotland) Russian door in Saint Basil's Cathedral (Moscow) Brâncovenesc door of the Antim...
the StMagnusCathedral in Kirkwall for the winter; in spring, his body was exhumed and taken back to Norway, where he was buried in the Old Cathedral in...
the presbytery of St. MagnusCathedral, Kirkwall, Orkney, ca. twelfth-thirteenth centuries, Norman and Romanesque. St Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny, Ireland:...
Davies himself, is based on the novel Magnus by George Mackay Brown. The opera was first performed in StMagnusCathedral, Kirkwall, Orkney on 18 June 1977...
Magnus Olafsson (Old Norse: Magnús Óláfsson; Norwegian and Danish: Magnus Olavsson; c. 1024 – 25 October 1047), better known as Magnus the Good (Old Norse:...
martyrdom of Magnus Erlendsson, who was killed in April 1116 by his cousin Haakon Paulsson, resulted in the building of StMagnusCathedral, still today...
Bishops of Orkney. St. MagnusCathedral, Kirkwall is peerless as an example of Norse-era construction in Scotland and St. Magnus Church, on Egilsay retains...
Global Information
