Iona Abbey

Iona Abbey on the Island of Iona in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland.
In 563, Columba came to Iona from Ireland with twelve companions, and founded a monastery, but little remains of the monastic buildings of that early period. The Columban community survived several Viking attacks but around 1200 a community of Benedictine monks was founded on the site by Reginald, son of Somerled, the self-styled ‘king of the Isles’. The abbey remained an important place of worship and pilgrimage until the Reformation in 1560, after which monastic life came to an end.
It’s thought that the world famous Book of Kells was made here, along with other great works of art. Iona’s Abbey Museum houses Scotland’s finest collection of early medieval carved stones and crosses.