About
Elgin Cathedral, the Lantern of the North, shines out even as a ruin as one of Scotland's most ambitious and beautiful medieval buildings. The seat of the bishops of Moray moved here around 1224 and work began in the first half of the 1200s; once richly carved, glazed and painted, it dominated the Laich of Moray long after the Reformation of 1560, and Bishop Alexander Bur called it the ornament of the realm, the glory of the kingdom. The 13th-century west front, flanked by two tall original towers, is one of the finest architectural achievements in Scotland; the choir and presbytery, rebuilt after the fire of 1270, have a style unique to Elgin; and the octagonal chapter house holds a riot of carved beasts and faces. It has more medieval memorials than any other Scottish cathedral, Scotland's tallest gravestone and a Pictish cross slab with a rare image of falconry. Visitors climb a tower's narrow spiral stair, past exhibits, for the view over Elgin, and allow an hour or two.
Check today’s timesPick a day for times and prices
- Until 25 Dec
- Mon, Tue, Sat, Sun 10:00–16:00, last entry 15:00
- 26 Dec–4 Jan
- Closed
- 5 Jan–31 Mar
- Mon, Tue, Sat, Sun 10:00–16:00, last entry 15:00
Later dates are in the calendar.
Today, Saturday 24 October
- Elgin Cathedral10:00 – 16:00last entry 15:00
Prices, non-members
| Ticket | On the day | Online |
|---|---|---|
| Adult | £11.00 | £10.00 |
| Concession | £9.00 | £8.00 |
| Child | £5.50 | £5.00 |
Opening times may change at short notice.
1 April to 30 September daily 10am to 5.30pm; 1 October to 31 March 10am to 4pm on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, closed Thursday and Friday; last entry one hour before closing; closed 24 December to 4 January. Historic Scotland recommends booking in advance to guarantee entry. Notice: conservation work to the wall tops means some scaffolding and fencing on site, with no end date given; the site's phone line is down, so email elgincathedral.vo@hes.scot. Daily insight tours at 11am and 2.30pm ran until 30 September.
Entered from the street over tarmac and paving with a small threshold into the ticket office and shop; access into the cathedral is down six stone steps with a central handrail and up four more, with an alternative level route available; numerous small level changes and archaeological remains in cut grass; stone steps without a handrail down into the chapter house; narrow spiral stairs up the tower, with two ground-level exhibition rooms and a touch screen for those who do not climb. Adapted toilet in the shop; no cafe or audio guide; water refill. Dogs on leads in the open-air parts, not in roofed areas.
Dogs: Visitors' dogs are allowed in the open-air parts of the cathedral on a lead but not in roofed areas (the chapter house, towers, museum rooms and shop). The open-air ruins and graveyard inside the ticketed site, on a lead at all times; owners must pick up after their dogs.
Photo: Elgin Cathedral's ruined west towers, nave and choir with its great round-window gable, and the roofed octagonal chapter house, seen across a lawn. Lucas Kendall, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elgin_Cathedral_from_Newmill_Road.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
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