King's College was founded by Bishop Elphinstone in 1495 with the support of King James IV, hence the name. The college was a truly Renaissance institution with a classical humanist curriculum modelled on that of the University of Paris.

This view of the chapel by R. W. Billings shows the chapel serving as the college library. In the aftermath of the Reformation, surplus churches were converted to a number of uses. The timber ceiling seen in detail in this image was constructed around 1506. The barrel-vaulted ceiling, almost certainly designed by John Fendour, has an arrangement of diagonal ribs which imitate the ribs of quadripartite stone vaulting. The foliage decorations are similar to those in certain churches in the Netherlands.

©SCRAN/University of Strathclyde Aberdeen Kings College Chapel being used as the Library