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Photo: Stevekeiretsu · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Cathedral in Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland
St Magnus Cathedral is a Church of Scotland parish church in Kirkwall, the main town of Orkney, a group of islands off the north coast of mainland Scotland. Originally a Roman Catholic cathedral, it is the oldest cathedral in Scotland and the most northerly cathedral in the United Kingdom. A large edifice that dominates the skyline of Kirkwall, it is a fine example of Romanesque architecture with later Gothic additions, built when the islands were ruled by the Norse Earls of Orkney as a semi-autonomous part of the Kingdom of Norway. The building is today owned by Orkney Islands Council as successor of the burgh of Kirkwall as a result of an act of King James III of Scotland following Orkney's annexation by the Scottish Crown in 1468.
