Elgin Cathedral...finally!

Third time is the charm indeed. The first two times I tried to go to Elgin cathedral it has been closed...during opening hours. As a member of Historic Scotland, I was not impressed. But this time, it was not only open, but it was a beautiful day.

This cathedral was built in the 14th century, and, as you can tell, fell into ruin some time later after the Reformation (due, no doubt, to overzealous reformed preaching). This first pic is from "inside" the cathedral in the nave looking at the front. These two towers would have had large spires on top of them, and you can still climb to the top of the tower on the right (notice picture from above below).

I love trying to recreate the cathedral layouts while you are walking through. You can see the column foundations, the arches, some of the roofline, and even the place for the stainglass. Pretty impressive for a ruin.

This side area was still intact, and you can see how the ceiling would have looked in the side aisles and lower-level covered areas.

The picture below shows another section with the ceiling remaining. This was the aisle running alongside the high altar. There were some impressive tombs in the wall and floor that have been preserved well.

This picture is from the top of the tower pictured earlier. I might have been tired when I got to the top (these people loved their spiral-staircases). You can see Mel, Mark and myself walking down one of the side aisles coming towards the tower (Kelli ran up first). The room on the left is the covered room shown before, and you can see the back end of the cathedral here. It looks like it would have been slightly smaller than St. Andrews, but clearly no less impressive.

Here is a picture of me with the bad guy from Star Wars.