Cross Slab by Govan
The Sun Stone (" Sun Stone ") called Cross Slab by Govan ( Scottish Gaelic : Baile a 'Ghobhainn ) is now in the western district of Glasgow in Scotland . He stands with other cross slabs in the Govan Old Parish Church in the Glasgow suburb of Govan in Scotland.
The church houses the largest collection of early medieval Sculptured Stones in Scotland, reflecting Govan's importance in the 9th and 10th centuries. 31 stones survived and another 16 have been buried in the cemetery in the past. The collection includes decorated cross shafts, cross slabs, and grave slabs.
The front of the cross-slab has a carved cross, laid out and surrounded by knot patterns above the depiction of a rider armed with a sword and spear on an animal (probably a horse).
The reverse contains a version of the snake bosses motif at the top , as a warped swastika , similar to that found in early Christian sculptures elsewhere in Scotland, in Gaelic and Pictish contexts (on crosses on Iona and Islay and on a cross-slab at Nigg in Easter Ross as well as on crosses in Ireland) and which was understood as resurrection symbolism. The depiction of snakes radiating out from a central boss comes from the 8th to 10th centuries and is also interpreted as the sun with its rays, hence the name "sun stone". Below that is a field with knot patterns.
See also
literature
- Isabel Henderson: The Book of Kells and the snake-boss motif on Pictish cross-slabs and the Iona crosses. In: Ireland and Insular Art AD 500-1200. 1987, pp. 56-65
Web links
Coordinates: 55 ° 51 ′ 52.6 " N , 4 ° 18 ′ 46.4" W.