Lily stones
Lily stones ( Swedish: Liljestenar ) are no longer in their original place, but sandstone slabs or fragments can be found in cemeteries , the decoration of which is characterized by a stylized lily, the meaning of which is being discussed. It could e.g. B. also be a representation of the tree of life . Palmette-type lily stones have heart-shaped motifs. According to Folke Högberg (1884–1972) they were so common that these stones were considered "normal". In the 1950s and 1960s Folke Högberg, member of the local historical and antiquarian society of Skövde, carried out an inventory. In 1967 he registered 338 lily stones, more have since been discovered, including two on Gotland, so that over 400 are currently known. The only lily stone north of Uppland is the rediscovered stone in Kyrkdal in Kramfors (municipality) in the Swedish province of Västernorrlandslän and the historic province of Ångermanland .
description
As reliefs they fill rectangular or slightly trapezoidal grave slabs in the province of Västergötland in Sweden, especially around the 306 m high "Kinnekulle", a mountain in the municipality of Götene . This area roughly coincides with the medieval diocese of Skara . Some were also found in Bohuslän , Dalsland , Uppland and Värmland and on Gotland . Four are on the sacristy wall of the church in Leksberg. Some have runic inscriptions that are typologically no older than AD 1100.
- Lily stones
Lilienstein der Leksberg kyrka - the left one bears a runic inscription
Lilienstein by Bjorsäter
Palmette-type lily stone from Skara
Harald Wideen (1912–2001) believed in the 1940s that the lily stones were imported directly from England in the 13th century. According to Leon Rhodin, Leif Gren and Verner Lindblom, however, the motifs of the lilies were taken directly from Byzantium as early as the 9th century. The new theories about the origin of this ornamental form from Byzantium , which was widespread between 1100 and 1200 AD, change the traditional history of the Christianization of Sweden. Researchers hypothesize that there was initially Orthodox Christianity in Sweden . Ongoing influences of the Byzantine Church on Gotland are particularly evident during the Nordic Middle Ages, which began in 1050 AD. Among the utensils of the 11th and 12th centuries, the cross pendants and encolpies in particular follow Byzantine patterns. Some stonemasons , like the Byzantios and Semi-Byzantios, have left their mark on the island. The rod cross plates ( Swedish Stavkorshällar ) in some Gotland churches also point to Byzantium with their paw crosses . The few surviving wall paintings from the 12th century in the churches of Garde and Källunge , relics of a Byzantine school that remained formative on the island until the early 13th century, are synonymous. The influence of Byzantine art on Gotland it arrived in time flourishing trade links between Gotland, the Kiev Empire and Byzantium. Continental Sweden seems to have been regionally under Eastern church influence at least until the break between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches in 1054.
Double stones
A stone with a double set of ornaments on either side of a dividing strip is called a double stone. Consensus among those who believe the lily stones were tombstones is that these stones lay over double graves. Often the two fields were patterned differently on a double stone. The dimensions of the double stones vary between 1.67 and 2.08 m in length and between 0.8 and 1.3 m in width, those of the single stones between 1.5 and 2.5 m in length, and 0, 5 and 1.0 m in width. Lilystones are also available in miniature form (less than 1.5 m in length).
Analogies
In Northern Ireland in the Movilla Abbey of Newtownards in County Down and elsewhere there are grave slabs / coffin lids ( English foliate coffin-lid ) from the Middle Ages , which are also decorated with foliage patterns in the style of the lily stones.
literature
- Annelie Nitenberg, Anna Nyqvist Thorsson: Liljestenar och stavkorshällar. Vänermuseet, Lidköping 2007, ISBN 978-91-88048-17-2 .
- Leon Rhodin, Leif Gren, Verner Lindblom: Liljestenarna och Sveriges kristnande från Bysans In: Fornvännen 95 2000 pp. 165–181
Individual evidence
- ↑ Liljestenarna och Sveriges kristnande från Bysans, In: Fornvännen No. 3: 2000, Stockholm, pp. 165–181