Mercat Cross, Edinburgh
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The Mercat Cross of Edinburgh is a market cross, the structure that marks the market square of the market town of Edinburgh. It stands in Parliament Square next to St Giles' Cathedral, facing the High Street in the Old Town of Edinburgh.
The Mercat Cross viewed from within Parliament Square looking across the Royal Mile with the pediment of Edinburgh City Chambers in the background.
Part of the original cross-shaft in the city's Huntly House Museum
Royal Unicorn on the Cross
The 'Maiden', used for beheadings in 16th and 17thC Edinburgh
St Giles' Cathedral
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St Giles' Cathedral, or the High Kirk of Edinburgh, is a parish church of the Church of Scotland in the Old Town of Edinburgh. The current building was begun in the 14th century and extended until the early 16th century; significant alterations were undertaken in the 19th and 20th centuries, including the addition of the Thistle Chapel. St Giles' is closely associated with many events and figures in Scottish history, including John Knox, who served as the church's minister after the Scottish Reformation.
West façade of the church building
Saint Giles depicted in a boss in the ceiling of the Thistle Chapel
St Giles' in 1647, showing the Tolbooth and Luckenbooths on the north of the church and Parliament House in the kirkyard to its south
David I holds a speculative model of the first St Giles' in a 20th-century window.