St. Manchán Shrine
The St. Manchán Shrine (Central Irish Scrín Mancháin Maothla , Irish Scrín Naomh Maincín ) is an Irish reliquary .
The shrine is originally from Lemanaghan ( Irish Liath Mancháin ) and is now kept in the church of Boherfadda ( An Bóthar Fada ) near Ballycumber in County Offaly in Ireland . In Lemanaghan there are the ruins of a monastery whose founding is traced back to St. Manchán of Lemanaghan (actually: Manchán mac Silláin , † 664).
The roof-shaped shrine, which is reminiscent of tent-like graves from erected stone slabs, as they have been preserved at Temple Cronan in County Clare , was made around 1130 in Clonmacnoise .
A Greek bronze cross with disc-shaped ends and a center circle is adorned with filigree ornaments and framed on the edge by striped ribbons. Perhaps 14 small figures were once added, but only 11 of them have survived. One of the figures is holding a hatchet. It is believed to be Saint Olaf of Norway . That they are not clergy can be concluded from the fact that no one holds a crosier, as is the case with the seven figures of White Island . The ornamental work is a mixture of the Viking style and the old Irish. The shrine is one of Ireland's art treasures.
literature
- Peter Harbison , H. Potterton, J. Sheehy: Irish Art and Architecture: From Prehistory to the Present . Thames and Hudson Ltd, London, 1993. p. 55. ISBN 0500277079