Church · Scotland · Restored

Rosslyn Chapel, Roslin

Rosslyn Chapel (Collegiate Chapel of Saint Matthew) is a 15th‑century Scottish collegiate chapel in the village of Roslin, Midlothian, founded by William Sinclair. Only the choir and Lady Chapel were completed; the building is famed for its extremely dense carved stonework, the three eastern pillars (including the Apprentice Pillar), and its crypt. The chapel was restored in the 19th and late 20th centuries and is now a conserved visitor site.

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Photograph via Wikimedia Commons

First raised

1446

Its prime

1480

Today

Restored

As it stood in 1480

What Rosslyn Chapel, Roslin looked like in its prime.

A compact late‑medieval collegiate chapel of warm buff-to-pink sandstone set on a small hill. The long east choir and attached Lady Chapel present a crenellated parapet and a row of tall pointed arched windows with stone tracery; the roofline is punctuated by carved pinnacles and finials. The entrance is a moulded pointed porch in the south-facing façade. Exterior surfaces and buttresses are densely patterned with shallow figurative and vegetal reliefs, boxed geometric motifs and many small carved masks.

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8 places to explore in 1480.

The record describes 8 distinct spots at Rosslyn Chapel, Roslin, including 6 interiors: porch threshold looking into choir, east choir bay around the apprentice, journeyman and master pillars, arcade of twelve pointed arches (nave arcade) and more. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more photos, more angles and more of the immersive experience.

South forecourt approach and porchPorch threshold looking into choirEast choir bay around the Apprentice, Journeyman and Master pillarsArcade of twelve pointed arches (nave arcade)Lady Chapel (retro‑chapel) and east altarsDescending stair to the Lower Chapel / cryptRoofline with pinnacles, finials and carved grotesquesInterior near a tall traceried stained-glass window

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