Imposing St John's Kirk was founded in 1126 and is still the centrepiece of the town. In 1559 John Knox preached a powerful sermon here that helped begin the Reformation, inciting a frenzied destruction of Scone abbey and other religious sites; the church itself, restored in the 19th century, is a rare example of a surviving medieval Scottish kirk.
Perth used to be known as St John's Town after this church, and the local football team is still called St Johnstone.
