Iona Abbey - cobbled Street of the Dead / Road of the Kings - postcard

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  Iona Abbey - in the foreground, the cobbled Street of the Dead (Road of the King's)
• Publisher:  Island Series
• Postally used:  no - message but not posted
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Iona Abbey is located on the Isle of Iona, just off the Isle of Mull on the West Coast of Scotland. It is one of the oldest and most important religious centres in Western Europe. The abbey was a focal point for the spread of Christianity throughout Scotland and marks the foundation of a monastic community by St. Columba, when Iona was part of the Kingdom of Dál Riata.

In 563, Columba came to Iona from Ireland with twelve companions, and founded a monastery which grew to be an influential centre for the spread of Christianity among the Picts and Scots. Kings were crowned, and also buried, on Iona. The Book of Kells, a famous illuminated manuscript, is believed to have been produced by the monks of Iona in the years leading up to 800.^[1] The Chronicle of Ireland was also produced at Iona until about 740.^{[citation needed]} In 806, Vikings massacred 68 monks in Martyrs' Bay, and Columba's monks returned to Ireland, and a Monastery at Kells: other monks from Iona fled to the Continent, and established Monasteries in Belgium, France, and Switzerland.^[2] In 825, St Blathmac and those monks who had returned with him to Iona, were martyred by a further Viking raid, and the Abbey burned. However, it was probably not deserted. Its continued importance is shown by the death there in 980 of Amlaíb Cuarán, a retired King of Dublin.

Benedictine abbey[edit]

Iona had been seized by the King of Norway, who held it for fifty years before Somerled recaptured it, and invited renewed Irish involvement in 1164: this led to the construction of the central part of the Cathedral. Ranald, Somerled's son, now 'Lord of the Isles', in 1203 invited the Benedictine order to establish a new Monastery, and the first (Benedictine) Nunnery, on the Columban foundations. Building work began on the new Abbey church, on the site of Columba's original church.^[3]

A very early Nunnery, founded in the thirteenth century, and of the Augustinian Order (one of only two in Scotland - the other is in Perth), the Iona Nunnery, was established south of the Abbey buildings. Graves of some of the early nuns remain, including that of a remarkable Prioress, Anna Maclean, who died in 1543. Clearly visible under her outer robe is the 'rochet', a pleated surplice denoting the Augustinian Order. The Nunnery buildings were rebuilt in the fifteenth century and fell into disrepair after the Reformation.

The Abbey church was substantially expanded in the fifteenth century,^[3] but following the Scottish Reformation, Iona along with numerous other abbeys throughout the British Isles were dismantled, and abandoned, their monks and Libraries dispersed.

The original Benedictine Abbey was substantially rebuilt following the Duke of Argyll's gift of all the buildings in 1899 to the Church of Scotland, which undertook extensive restoration of the site. In 1938, the inspiration of Reverend George MacLeod led a group which rebuilt the abbey, and founded the Iona Community. The reconstruction was organised by the architect Ian Gordon Lindsay having generously been passed the project from his senior mentor and friend Reginald Fairlie.^[4] The surrounding buildings were also re-constructed during the 20th century by the Iona Community.This ecumenical Christian community continues to use the site to this day.

The site was much loved by John Smith, Leader of the Labour Party. After his sudden death in 1994, he was buried on Iona.^[5]

type=printed

city/ region=iona

period=post-war (1945-present)

postage condition=unposted

number of items=single

size=continental/ modern (150x100 mm)