Thistle Chapel

About

The Thistle Chapel, located in St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland, is the chapel of the Order of the Thistle. At the foundation of the Order of the Thistle in 1687, King James VII ordered Holyrood Abbey be fitted out as a chapel for the Knights. At James's deposition the following year, a mob destroyed the chapel's interior before the Knights ever met there.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, multiple proposals were made either to refurbish Holyrood Abbey for the Order of the Thistle or to create a chapel within St Giles' Cathedral. In 1906, after the sons of the 11th Earl of Leven donated £24,000 from their late father's estate, King Edward VII ordered a new Chapel to be constructed on the south side of St Giles's. The Trustees appointed by the King to oversee the chapel's construction appointed Robert Lorimer as architect.

The Trustees insisted the choice of craftspeople should reflect the national character of the chapel. Lorimer assembled a team of leading figures in the Scottish Arts and Crafts movement, including Phoebe Anna Traquair for enamelwork, Douglas Strachan for stained glass, Joseph Hayes for ornate stonework (and much of the woodwork), and the brothers William...