Thistle Chapel

The Thistle Chapel is a small chapel located within St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the chapel of the Order of the Thistle, Scotland's highest chivalric order.

The chapel was designed by Sir Robert Lorimer and constructed between 1909 and 1911. It represents a significant example of Gothic Revival architecture and is renowned for its intricate wood carvings, sculpted details, and heraldic representations.

The Order of the Thistle consists of the Sovereign (currently the monarch of the United Kingdom) and sixteen Knights and Ladies, as well as certain extra knights (members of the British Royal Family and foreign monarchs). Each knight or lady has a stall in the chapel, marked with their banner, crest, and a carved stall plate displaying their name and arms. Unique to the chapel are the carved angels and grotesques atop the stalls, each different and representing a variety of figures and themes.

Services are held in the chapel annually for the Order, usually in late June or early July. The chapel is a popular tourist attraction within St Giles' Cathedral.