Description
Image Size: 7 x 6-1/2 ins. Paper Size: 11 x 8-1/2 ins.
Iona Abbey is located on the Isle of Iona, just off the Isle of Mull on the West Coast of Scotland. It is one of the oldest and most important religious centres in Western Europe. The abbey was a focal point for the spread of Christianity throughout Scotland marks the foundation of a monastic community by St. Columba, when Iona was part of the Kingdom of Dal Riata. Iona Abbey is home to the Iona Community, an ecumenical Christian religious order, and remains a popular site of Christian pilgrimage today.
Early history
In 563, Columba came to Iona from Ireland with twelve companions, and founded a monestery. It developed as an influential centre for the spread of Christianity among the Picts and Scots. The Book of Kells, a famous illuminated manuscript, is believed to have been produced by the monks of Iona in the years leading up to 800. The Chronicle of Ireland was also produced at Iona until about 740. The abbey was first attacked by Viking raiders in 795, with subsequent attacks taking place in 802, 806, and 825. During the 806 Viking attack, 68 monks were massacred in Martyrs’ Bay, and this led to many of the Columban monks relocating to the Columban Abbey of Kells in Ireland. Other monks from Iona fled to the Continent, and established monasteries in Belgium, France, and Switzerland. In 825, St. Blathmac and those monks who remained with him at Iona, were martyred in a Viking raid, and the Abbey was burned. However, it was probably not deserted as its continued importance is shown by the death there in 980 of Amlaib Cuaran, a retired King of Dublin.
In 1899 the Duke of Argyll transferred ownership of the ruined remains of the Abbey and Nunnery sites to the Iona Cathedral Trust, which undertook extensive restoration of the Abbey church. In 1938, the inspiration of Reverend George MacLeod led a group which rebuilt the abbey, and founded the Iona Community. The reconstruction was organised by the architect Ian Gordon Lindsay having generously been passed the project from his senior mentor and friend Reginald Fairlie. The surrounding buildings were also re-constructed during the 20th century by the Iona Community. This ecumenical Christian community continues to use the site to this day.
The simple square font was added in 1908 and dedicated to the memory of the Very Rev Theodore Marsall DD, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in that year.
In 2000 the Iona Cathedral Trust handed over the care of the Abbey, Nunnery, and associated sites to Historic Scotland.
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