Isle of Iona

Iona and its abbey are among the more famous names in Christianity. It was here in 563 that St. Columba came from Ireland to found an abbey and spread the gospel. And from here much of Scotland was Christianized. At the abbey on Iona is where the very famous Book of Kells was written and long kept until the monks moved it elsewhere during the age of Viking raids. And it was from Iona that monks dispersed after those raids, established monasteries in Belgium, France, and Switzerland, and did their part to keep learning alive in those darker times.

The abbey from the channel

Ruins of the nunnery down the road

The abbey; still in use by a variety of "spiritual" groups

Oldest of the giant Celtic crosses still
standing...St. Martin's, 8th century

Chapel under which St. Columba's bones are
said to lie

Interior of abbey church

Interesting face on one of the church arches

Cloister

In the abbey museum, the Stone of Echodi,
said to be the oldest of the carved stones,
approximately a generation after Columba

Other stones in the museum, warriors, and note the Viking
ship at the bottom of the tall stone

Cemetery and oldest building still standing; next to it is a
plot thought to be the burial ground of Scotland's ancient
kings, presumably including Macbeth