Description of the attraction
Canongate Church is a parish church in the Old City, Edinburgh. This parish includes Holyrood Palace, the Scottish Parliament, and Edinburgh Castle, although it is located at some distance from the church. In the summer of 2011, it was here that the wedding of Zara Philips, the granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, to Mike Tyndall took place.
The Canongate area was a separate city for many years, its merger with Edinburgh occurred only in 1856. The church was built in 1688-1691. Previously, parishioners attended the Church of Holyrood Abbey, but King James VII ordered the construction of a separate church, and the church of the abbey was transferred to the Order of the Thistle.
The church is quite unusual from the point of view of the architectural style. Its pediment is in Dutch style, and the entrance is decorated with a portico with small Doric columns. The church is square in plan, but the interior is designed in the form of a cross, which is extremely unusual for Scottish churches built between the Reformation and the Victorian era. The interior of the church underwent significant changes in 1882, including the installation of an organ. Some of these changes were redone in 1952 and the interior was largely recreated in its original austere simplicity.
Many famous people are buried in the cemetery of Canongate Church, including economist Adam Smith, poet Robert Fergusson, personal secretary of Mary Stuart David Rizzio. There is a monument to Robert Fergusson near the church.
