Holyrood Abbey

Holyrood Abbey is identified by its stark, roofless nave, which stands as a skeleton of pale stone against the backdrop of the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Founded in eleven twenty-eight by King David the First, the abbey was built to house a relic known as the Black Rood of Scotland, which was believed to be a fragment of the True Cross. Legend tells that David established the site after he was thrown from his horse by a charging stag while hunting, only to be saved by a miraculous vision of a holy cross.