Iona is one of Scotland’s smallest inhabited islands. Yet its historical significance is enormous. It was here that St Columba founded his monastery, a major influence in the spread of Christianity.
Viking raiders ransacked the monastery around AD 800, but Iona’s role as a beacon of faith was never extinguished. An abbey and nunnery were established here around 1200 and the island was a focus for medieval pilgrimage.
Iona’s spiritual importance endures, enhanced by the foundation of the Iona Community in 1938. At the island’s heart is the abbey church, restored in the 19th and 20th centuries. Other remnants of the island’s medieval heyday also survive, including the ruined nunnery, carved graveslabs and extraordinary standing crosses.
Discover the turbulent story of a religious foundation dating back 1,500 years.
> The Abbey: History
Learn about the women who lived in spiritual isolation less than a mile from the abbey.
> The Nunnery: History
