Interior-general view of entrance to Thistle Chapel
BL 21473
Description Interior-general view of entrance to Thistle Chapel
Date c. 1912
Collection Records of Bedford Lemere and Company, photographers, London, England
Catalogue Number BL 21473
Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images
Scope and Content Ante-chapel to the Thistle Chapel, St Giles' Cathedral, High Street, Edinburgh The Thistle Chapel, the most ornate building of its kind to be erected in Scotland since the Middle Ages, was designed by the architect, Sir Robert Lorimer, and built in 1909-11 at St Giles' Cathedral as the private chapel for the Knights of the Thistle, the most ancient Order of Chivalry in Scotland. The architectural photographer, Harry Bedford Lemere, was commissioned to photograph the chapel c.1912. The low ante-chapel, set between the Thistle Chapel and the choir of St Giles', is roofed by a shallow vault springing from slim shafts. At every intersection are large bosses carved with thistles, roses and shamrocks by the sculptor, Joseph Hayes. To the right of the entrance to the chapel (left) is a stone panel carved with the arms of the donor, the Earl of Leven, and the arch opening into the south aisle of the choir (right) has an elaborate wrought-iron gate by Thomas Hadden. The chapel was gifted by John David, 12th Earl of Leven in fulfilment of the wishes of his father who, in 1906, left £40,000 for the restoration of the ruined Chapel Royal at the Palace of Holyrood which had formerly been used as a meeting place for the Knights of the Thistle. Restoration of the Chapel Royal, however, proved impossible, and a new chapel, designed by Lorimer, was built at St Giles'. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.
Medium Glass
External Reference Box 62
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/329428
Attribution: © Courtesy of HES (Bedford Lemere and Company Collection)
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