Grave slab from St. John's Church in Visby
The grave slab from St. John's Church in Visby (also called G 343 Hailgairs häll) is a stone that, according to Gutasaga, comes from the site of the oldest church in Vi (old name Visbys ) on the Swedish island of Gotland , which was not burned down by pagan opponents is. It stood below the cliff where St. Peter's Church is today.
Today the St. Johannes (Hans) Church, built together with the twin church of St. Pers, lies in ruins. During investigations on the traditional square in 1982, the grave slab of a medieval grave appeared under the floor of St. John's Church .
The plate, which is partially carved with runes , shows a cross and the characteristic dragon snares with the runic inscription. Loops also decorate some picture stones with crosses, etc. a. in the churches in Sjonhem and Hogrän .
description
It is a large rectangular, symmetrically decorated plate that was smashed at some point to serve a different purpose. The plate was originally from a picture stone of the 5th – 6th centuries Century was struck, of which faint traces of the vortex wheel and the upper rim can be seen.
The most important things about the stone, the final shape of which can be dated to the middle of the 11th century, are the shape and the runic writing. Previously, this type of rune ornamentation was reserved for the phallus-like picture stones and stones of the burial boxes from pagan times, which, like their predecessors, the building stones , were erected as memorials. This was the first time that a type of "recumbent grave slab" was scratched that later dominated grave customs.
That the stone was actually in place is evident from the inscription, which reads in modern translation: “... erected the tomb for Hailgair, ... his soul. As long as the world lasts, the monument is above the man, just as the heirs erected it ... and Torleif carved the stone ”.
Gotland's oldest grave slab of the medieval type was found, which stood at the beginning of the real Christianization of the island (after 1050 AD). It is also a link between prehistoric times and the Middle Ages .
literature
- Erik Nylén & Jan Peder Lamm: Bildsteine on Gotland (Bildstenar, 1987). 2nd edition Wachholtz, Neumünster 1991, ISBN 3-529-01823-6 (translation: Margareta and Michael Müller-Wille).