Portal:Scotland/Selected picture/August, 2010



Iona (Ì Chaluim Chille) is a small island in the Inner Hebrides off the western coast of Scotland. It was a centre of Celtic Christianity for four centuries and is today renowned for its tranquility and natural beauty. It is a popular tourist destination. The Hebrides have been occupied by the speakers of at least four languages since the Iron Age, and as a result many of the names of these islands have more than one possible meaning. Nonetheless few, if any, can have accumulated so many different names over the centuries as the island now known in English as "Iona". Its modern Gaelic name means "Iona of (Saint) Columba" (formerly anglicised "Icolmkill").

Photo credit: Graham Proud