Vortex wheel

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Vortex wheel with 12 segments

The vortex wheel ( Swedish Virvelhjul ) is an ornament of the Nordic art style, which has been handed down on the older Gotland picture stones . The vortex wheel is a modification of the swastika . It dates from before the Oseberg style and is dated to the 5th and 6th centuries (Germanic Iron Age ) and the Swedish Vendel period. Vortex wheels are z. B. from the picture stones of Bro No. 24, Broa XIV, Havor I, Ire I, Sanda IV and Väskinde V.

Picture stone with vortex wheel, spiral motifs and ship (below)
Vortex and other compositions from Castro de Santa Trega - Portugal

Swedish vortex wheels

The vortex wheel is the central motif on the older Swedish stones. Younger stones still show it dominantly but combined with spirals and row boats . In order to understand the suggestive effect that the representation originally had, one must imagine the colors that have now disappeared. Judging by the shape of the wheels, red has been combined with black and white. No traces of color have survived on the older picture stones. On the youngest, which were used as building material (mostly in churches) relatively quickly after their construction in the course of Christianization, traces of paint have occasionally been preserved.

The vortex wheels have recurring details that show that this abstract representation had a deeper meaning. Their crescent-shaped segments appear 6, 12, 16, or 24 times. Triangles, which are sometimes inserted between the spokes of the vertebral wheels (e.g. Sanda IV with 16 segments), could use different colors to reinforce the idea of ​​movement. The ever-present radiant border decoration should perhaps reflect the radiance of the sun. Many of these picture stones are exhibited in Gotland's Fornsal in Visby .

Vortex wheels of the Iberian Peninsula

Vortex wheels with three or more segments were z. As well as in the Citânia de Briteiros in Portugal , in oppidum Santa terga in Galicia and Cantabrian discs stele ( Estelas cántabras ) (z. B. steles Lombera ) of the Iberian Peninsula found where it about a thousand years older than the Scandinavian are .

literature

  • Erik Nylén , Jan Peder Lamm: Picture stones on Gotland. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1981, 1991 (2nd edition), ISBN 3-529-01823-6 . P. 20
  • Philine Kalb: large stone graves and menhirs. In: Hermanfrid Schubart et al. (Ed.): Finds in Portugal. Muster-Schmidt, Göttingen / Zurich 1993, ISBN 3-7881-1512-2 Fig. Plate 33 p. 101

See also