Edinburgh - St Giles’ Cathedral

Edinburgh has been the capital of Scotland since the 15th century. With a population of around 525,000, it is the second largest city in Scotland after Glasgow.

The city is a cultural centre, and is the home of institutions including the National Museum of Scotland, the National Library of Scotland and the Scottish National Gallery. Edinburgh's Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The first documented mention of a church on this site dates back to 854. The construction of the current building started in 1120. After a devasting fire in 1385, the church was rebuilt in the Gothic style. The tower was not completed until 1495.

St Giles is the main church in the city, although it was never a cathedral in its time as a Catholic church, as Edinburgh was part of the Diocese of St Andrews. St Giles' was central to Scotland's response to national disaster of the Battle of Flodden in 1513. As Edinburgh's men were ordered by the town council to defend the city, its women were ordered to gather in St Giles' to pray for James IV and his army. Requiem Mass for the King and the memorial mass for the dead of the battle were held in St Giles'. In the summer of 1544 during the war known as the Rough Wooing (aka Eight Years´ War), after an English army had burnt Edinburgh, Regent Arran maintained a garrison of gunners in the tower of the church.

In 1559, the church became Protestant with John Knox, the foremost figure of the Scottish Reformation, as its minister.

Many memorial slabs are around the walls.

One is for Sir James Young Simpson (1811 - 1870) a Scottish physician and the founder of chloroform anaesthesia in 1847.