A humble church belonging to St Mary’s Observantine Franciscan Friary was founded here in 1469. The second Greyfriar’s or College Kirk was built on this Broad Street site in 1532. The Franciscans were banished in 1560 but the church remained until the late 1800s. Then Alexander Marshall Mackenzie designed this Gothic Revival replacement. The Greyfriars John Knox Kirk, with this stunning southern tower, was finished in 1903. The middle name of John Knox is a tribute to the leader of the Scottish Reformation. Greyfriars Kirk is adjacent to Marischal College.
