St Magnus Cathedral

Twelfth-century red sandstone cathedral at the heart of Kirkwall

The finest medieval building in northern Scotland, St Magnus Cathedral dominates Kirkwall in red and yellow sandstone. Construction began in 1137, and the cathedral is a remarkable example of Romanesque architecture transitioning to Gothic, with rounded Norman arches in the nave and pointed early Gothic in the choir.

Entry is free. The interior is worth a long, unhurried visit — the columns are alive with carved faces, the windows trace the cathedral's complicated history, and the stones absorb light unlike any other building in Britain. Climb the spire if you can; the view across Kirkwall and out to Shapinsay is superb.

things to do church architecture
A story
St Magnus was a Norse earl murdered on the island of Egilsay in 1117 in a power struggle with his cousin Hakon. The cathedral was begun two decades later by his nephew Rognvald to atone for the killing — and the bones of both Magnus and Rognvald, found inside the cathedral pillars during nineteenth-century restoration, are still there.