St Giles Cathedral the work was carried out

St Giles' Cathedral the work was carried out by student groups AR 1 -41 Khabatilov Kirill

St Giles' Cathedral, is the principal place of worship of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh. The church has been one of Edinburgh's religious focal. points for approximately. 900 years.

The present church dates from the late 14 th century, though it was extensively restored in the 19 th century, and is protected as a category A listed building. Today it is sometimes regarded as the "Mother Church of Presbyterianism". The cathedral is dedicated to Saint Giles, who is the patron saint of Edinburgh, as well as of cripples and lepers, and was a very popular saint in the Middle Ages.

St Giles' was only a cathedral in its formal sense (i. e. the seat of a bishop) for two periods during the 17 th century (1635– 1638 and 1661– 1689), when episcopalianism, backed by the Crown, briefly gained ascendancy within the Kirk

The oldest parts of the building are four massive central pillars, often said to date from 1124, although there is very little evidence to this effect. In 1385 the building suffered a fire and was rebuilt in the subsequent years. Much of the current interior dates from this period. Over the years many chapels, referred to as 'aisles', were added, greatly enlarging the church and leaving it rather irregular in plan.

Ceiling of the Thistle Chapel. Angel playing bagpipes, Thistle Chapel. See also: List of Knights and Ladies of the Thistle. The Thistle Chapel is the chapel of The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, Scotland's foremost Order of Chivalry. The chapel was built in 1911 to designs by Robert Lorimer, at the south-east corner of the church. It is small, but exquisite, with carved and painted fittings of extraordinary detail. One figure depicts an angel playing bagpipes. The Order, which was founded by King James VII in 1687, consists of the Scottish monarch and 16 knights.

Stained glass. Scottish Saints window In the later 19 th century, stained glass began to be put into the windows which had been largely clear or plain since the Reformation. One of the last windows of this plan depicts Saint Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, holding his cross with, on either side of him, Saint Columba and King David I (accorded the status of a popular saint). The depiction of saints, rather than Bible stories alone, by the mid 20 th century shows how much attitudes to decoration had changed in the intervening period.

Tourism Being in the centre of the Royal mile, the Cathedral is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Edinburgh. In addition to interesting medieval architecture in the Cathedral, tourists are attracted by the numerous relics stored in its building. In the Cathedral are buried many well-known and honored citizens of Scotland, for example, participated in the civil war on the side of Charles I James Graham, his enemy, a participant in the war on the side of the British Parliament Archibald Campbell. And Robert Louis Stevenson and John Knox, although the last resting place of the lost.

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