A black and white view of the Cloisters within Iona Abbey (a restored and reconstructed Benedictine abbey) on the Isle of Iona, Inner Hebrides, Scotland. The Cloisters are a historic and spiritually significant part of the abbey complex, with the current covered walkways rebuilt in the early 20th century and featuring new, modern carvings added later that reflect nature and Celtic spirituality. These covered walkways, which once surrounded a central courtyard where monks spent time in contemplation, were designed to provide a safe, meditative space, with the symbolic carvings intended to inspire a deeper connection to existence and the natural world. The present Iona Abbey dates from the arrival of the Benedictine monks in around 1200, though it was extensively rebuilt in the 15th and 16th centuries and restored virtually wholesale in the last century. It was built on the site where St. Columba established his monastery hundreds of years earlier. He fled from Ireland in 563 and established a monastery which was responsible for the conversion to Christianity of more or less all of pagan Scotland as well as much of northern England. Iona has been a place of Christian worship for over 1400 years.
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The Cloisters, Iona Abbey, Isle of Iona, Inner Hebrides, Scotland (September 2025)
They were at the heart of monastic life linking the church with other abbey buildings.
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