Visitor Centre

Greyfriars’ Visitor Centre attracts some 20,000 to 25,000 local and international visitors a year. Its rich heritage boasting such historic events as being the first church built in Edinburgh after the Reformation, the signing of the Deed of Convenant in 1638, and the display of an American flag that once hung in the Whitehouse. The flag was gifted to the church and recalls that the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in the New World and the opening of Greyfriars took place on the same day: Christmas Day 1620. One of its stories has become world-renowned and even the subject of a film: Greyfriars Bobby, the little dog who waited by his master’s grave for years and whose statue sits opposite the church gates on the fountain Candlemaker’s Row.

From April to October our visitor centre is open Monday to Friday 10.30am to 4.30pm and Saturday 11.00am until 2.00pm. November to March, the Kirk is only open to visitors on a Thursday between 1.30pm and 3.30pm.