The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Fingal’s Cave

a grotto on the southwestern shore of Staffa Island in the Hebrides, in Great Britain. Fingal’s Cave is approximately 70 m long and up to 14 m wide, with elevations ranging to 30 m; the bottom is covered with water. The cave was formed by the action of the sea on basalts, which have the shape of polyhedral vertical columns. The acoustics of the cave are unique. Fingal’s Cave is a tourist site.

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

SPECTACULAR SIGHT: Fingal's Cave on Staffa; OASIS OF TRANQUILITY: Isle of Mull at sunset; MAGICAL SPOT: Celtic cross at Iona Abbey

Holiday hotspots: Isle of skies; THE STAFFA DREAMS ARE MADE OF

YORK: 1.50 Chancery, 2.20 Fingal's Cave, 2.55 MONDIALISTE (NAP), 3.30 Carlton Frankie, 4.05 Hitman, 4.40 Knowing Glance, 5.15 Ancient Astronaut.

1.50 24th, J 2.20 Also: 4th, NR: Shutter could show Speed in the Oaks

FINGAL'S CAVE, Staffa, Inner Hebrides This sea cavern, more than 20m high, is formed of beautiful hexagonal basalt columns and arches and is one of the most majestic places in Scotland.

It's the wild things that make our hearts sing; PHOTOGRAPHERS CAPTURE STUNNING BEAUTY AND HIDDEN GEMS OF HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS ON BARGAIN BUDGET; Snappers Jewels on our doorstep

The concert opener was Felix Mendelssohn's wonderfully descriptive Hebrides Overture, Fingal's Cave, poignantly played and thoughtfully dedicated by Zehetmair to two of the classical music greats who have died over the past few days -- fellow Austrian conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.

Zehetmair returns to Sage Gateshead for a mixed bag of a concert; Royal Northern Sinfonia shines in Sibelius's fourth symphony but our reviewer can do without Ligeti's 'musical dare'

Mendelssohn's Fingal's Cave, Beethoven's First Symphony and Faure's Pavane sit happily alongside Prokofiev's First (Classical) Symphony, Gareth Glyn's Legend of the Lake, and Seagull Nebula by Csanyi-Wills.

PREVIEW; Welsh Sinfonia Various venues

but can you to I took a cruise from Oban and had hoped to visit Iona to tour the monastery and Staffa to explore Fingal's Cave but the weather had other ideas.

Trawl of the wild; JOHN HONEYWELL BOARDS THE CONVERTED FISHING BOAT GLEN TARSAN FOR A CRUISE AROUND THE LOCHS AND ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND'S BEAUTIFUL WEST COAST LOCH, DOCK AND A BARREL OF FUN

ANSWERS: 1 High jump; 2 Matthew Flinders; 3 The mountain ash; 4 Fingal's Cave; 5 A Scillonian; 6 Conspiracy Theory; 7 A thatcher; 8 Denmark; 9 Georges Simenon; 10 Edward VII.

Quiz of the Day

In 1829, young Mendelssohn schlepped from Hamburg to the Hebrides to see Fingal's Cave, the inspiration for his ever-popular Hebridean Overture.

VIEWPOINT: MY SHOUT

'And we sailed to Fingal's Cave off the west coast of Scotland in a northerly gale with steep seas breaking over the boat.

Dim view of the land

Or another hop takes you to STAFFA - where you can visit the awe-inspiring basalt columns of Fingal's Cave.

British Islands - MULL OVER SCOTTISH DELIGHTS

Repairs to Fingal's Cave, on Staffa, are due to get under way as soon as materials to repair a concrete path into the cave can be delivered to the uninhabited island, a spokeswoman for the National Trust for Scotland confirmed yesterday.

Walkway into cave to stay shut amid safety worries; Tourism: Visitors disappointed over lack of access to top island attraction