Iona Abbey and Nunnery

In AD563, Columba came to Iona from Ireland with twelve companions and founded a monastery. The abbey was transformed into a Benedictine monastery in about 1200. Its buildings were restored in the 1900s and in 1938, the Iona Community was founded to revive its traditions of work, worship and teaching. The Abbey is well known as being ‘The cradle of Christianity’ in Scotland.

In front of the Abbey stands the 9th century St Martin’s Cross, one of the best-preserved Celtic crosses in the British Isles.