The Saga of St Magnus

For visitors who arrive knowing nothing of Magnus, the Friends funded the film that tells his story. Over the years the Society has funded both the original film and its updated version, and the equipment that shows it.

about this project

Telling the Story

The Friends funded the film that introduces visitors to Magnus and his story. It has been shown at the St Magnus Centre since the Centre opened, and over the years the Society has funded both the original film and its updated version.

The Saga of St Magnus was made for the opening of the St Magnus Centre and premiered on 16 April 2001. It was funded by the Society together with Orkney Enterprise, and produced by Cinécosse of Aberdeenshire, from a script by Ron Ferguson, with narration by Tom Fleming and Graham Garson. It was shown to visitors at the Centre daily until 2022.

The story it tells is the one that explains the building. Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney, killed on Egilsay and buried at Birsay; the miracles reported at his grave; and his nephew Rognvald, who vowed to build a great church in his uncle’s memory and began it in 1137. Without that story the cathedral is only architecture.

The Friends did not stop at funding the film. The Society also paid for the projection equipment at the St Magnus Centre, and later funded a replacement. The new film was made by Fionn McArthur of Start Point Media, using Ron Ferguson’s original script, with the English narration again read by Graham Garson. It premiered on 28 January 2023 and runs to about fifteen minutes. It is shown to visitors between April and October, and is also available in German, French, Norwegian, Italian and Spanish.

Visitors have long been invited to make a donation to the Society after watching. That small arrangement has quietly supported the cathedral for over twenty years.