Watercolour of the seat of Scottish reformation.
 
 
St Giles’ Cathedral is Edinburgh’s historic High Kirk on the Royal Mile, near the center of the Old Town. It began as a church in the 12th century, with the current building developing mainly in the 14th–16th centuries, and it is closely tied to the Scottish Reformation.
In 1559, amid the Scottish Reformation, John Knox preached his first sermon here, leading to the removal of Catholic furnishings and establishing St Giles’ as a Protestant stronghold. A riot erupted in 1637 when Jenny Geddes allegedly threw a stool at the dean over Charles I’s imposed Book of Common Prayer, sparking the Bishops’ Wars and Covenanters’ movement; an original National Covenant copy remains on display.
Raided and burned by English forces in 1322 and 1385, it was rebuilt in the 14th century. Charles I briefly made it a cathedral in 1633 for the Diocese of Edinburgh. By the 19th century, after partitions from multiple congregations, Lord Provost William Chambers led a major 1872 restoration, creating a unified “Westminster Abbey for Scotland” with additions like the Thistle Chapel.
 
interesting facts.
Saint Giles was a 7th-century Greek hermit and Edinburgh’s patron. H lived in France apparently with a tame deer as his companion!