Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, Scotland.

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Located

at the bottom of the Royal Mile, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, also known as Holyrood Palace is the Queen and Royal Family’s official residence in Scotland. The building itself being an architectural gem with impressive Baroque decoration.

During the Middle Ages the monarchy left the cold and damp Edinburgh Castle and settled in the comfortable Holyrood Abbey guesthouse. In 1503 James IV constructed the first palace alongside the Abbey. Many years later, James V built a tower where Mary, Queen of Scots lived between 1561 and 1567.

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Attached to the holyrood Palace is the ruins of the abbey founded in 1128 by David I

In 1544, recurring war and invasion from England began to take a toll on the church as structural damage occurred during the War of Rough Wooing. Only ten years later, parts of the church were deemed unnecessary and were also removed. Although the Abbey was remodeled in 1633, its improvement did not last long.

During the glorious revolution, English forces once again struck a deadly blow as a mob looted the church and destroyed the roof in 1688. At this point, Holyrood had nearly taken on the form it has now. An attempt to replace the roof was shoddily made in 1768 and the new roof fell in on itself within a decade. Today, the Abbey Church stands as it has for the last 250 years as ruins next to the palace in the middle of Scotland’s capital city, Edinburgh.