Orphir Round Church

[1] The church, dedicated to Saint Nicholas, consisted of a barrel-vaulted apse on the eastern side of its 6-metre-wide (20 ft) circular nave.

It consisted of a circular nave about six metres in diameter and a semicircular apse with a central window.

[1] It is thought to have been built by jarl (earl) Haakon Paulsson (Earl of Orkney from 1103 to 1123) as penance for murdering his cousin and co-ruler Magnus Erlendsson (later Saint Magnus) in the late 11th or early 12th century.

[2][3] The building's design was inspired by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the circular churches became a popular design with returning crusaders attempting to copy the famous structure.

[5] Only the apse and a small segment of the round kirk's nave wall now survive.