Rosslyn Chapel

Overview

Rosslyn Chapel is open daily and operates time slots for visits that must be pre-booked via their website. 

You can arrive at any time during your booked time slot which are divided into 5 intervals as follows:

Rosslyn Chapel is one of the most famous religious sites of Scotland, made even more famous in the past few years due to the Da Vinci Code novel by Dan Brown and the movie with Tom Hanks. Rosslyn Chapel is an architectural wonder: although it was never completely finished, it has impressive features such as a sculptured ceiling of stars, roses and a dove with an olive branch ( a symbol of the Knights Templar). The skill and art in the stone carvings is amazing and evidence of a tremendous craft that has now been lost.

Rosslyn chapel is actually quite modest in size, but so full of finely detailed stonework that you can easily spend an hour just enjoying the tour and admiring the intricate stonework. The highlight of the chapel, in terms of stone masonry, is the famous "Prentice Pillar". Legend has it that the pillar was carved by an apprentice stonemason while the master mason was away. When the master mason saw the pillar, he realised the skill of the apprentice far exceeded his own and would be a threat to his position. Consequently, he killed him with a blow from a mallet. It is just a legend and we've not heard any other evidence to support the story.

Staff are on hand in the chapel to give informative talks and answer questions. You will learn about how Rosslyn chapel was started in 1446, how it escaped the destruction of the Protestant reformation and you will be shown some of the curious carvings and masonic symbols around the chapel. The guides also explain a little about the use of the chapel in the filming of the Da Vinci Code, but the tours do not play too heavily on this connection.

We found Rosslyn chapel to be genuinely fascinating, but visitors without a good understanding of English may not get so much from the tour which is largely reliant on the guide's commentary.

Rosslyn Chapel can be visited by bus by taking the No.37 "via Roslin" service from St Andrews Square Bus Station in the city centre. The journey takes about 45 minutes.

Photography is not permitted inside the chapel. We took these pictures before the chapel was made famous by the Da Vinci Code.