St Margaret's Chapel, in Edinburgh Castle, is the oldest surviving building in Edinburgh, Scotland. An example of Romanesque architecture, it is a category A listed building. It was constructed in the 12th century, but fell into disuse after the Reformation. In the 19th century the chapel was restored and today is cared for by the St Margaret's Chapel Guild.
The south façade of the chapel
Interior of St Margaret's Chapel, showing the chancel arch with chevron motifs
St Margaret of Scotland
St Andrew
Saint Margaret of Scotland
Videos
Saint Margaret of Scotland, also known as Margaret of Wessex, was an English princess and a Scottish queen. Margaret was sometimes called "The Pearl of Scotland". Born in the Kingdom of Hungary to the expatriate English prince Edward the Exile, Margaret and her family returned to England in 1057. Following the death of Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, her brother Edgar Ætheling was elected as King of England but never crowned. After she and her family fled north, Margaret married Malcolm III of Scotland by the end of 1070.
St Margaret from a medieval family tree
Portrait by Nicolas de Largillière, 1720s
Malcolm greeting Margaret at her arrival in Scotland; detail of a mural by Victorian artist William Hole
Relief sculpture of St. Margaret of Scotland, Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C.