ruins of the north Church
the Crucifixion of Christ
the lower scenes are heavily eroded, this is King David
the East facade of Muiredach's Cross with the Last Judgement in center
the West or Tall Cross stands 7 meters high in front of the round tower
a sundial from the 10th century
say what?
today the round tower stands about 28 meters high
Jesus is mocked by a couple of Roman soldiers
At the end of the 5th century St Buithe, a follower of St Patrick and name giver of the Boyne River, founded a monastery
at what was at that time probably a sacred place to the local pagans.
For several centuries
Monasterboice flourished but
in 968 Vikings raided the place and occupied it before
Donal, the High King of Tara kicked them out.
In 1142 the
Cistercian Order founded
an abbey nearby and soon the old monastery faded in importance and was abondoned.
Today Monasterboice is a graveyard with a 10th
century round tower and ruins of two 14th century churches. One of them dutifully kept St Buithe's head till it was stolen in
the 16th century and never returned back.
The real gems at Monasterboice are three 10th century huge sandstone Celtic Crosses, with
Muiredach's Cross the most famous. The cross is richly decorated with scenes from the bible.
Monasterboice is
a National monument but continues to be used as a graveyard.
We inspected the crosses in June 2018.
the entrance to Monasterboice
the North Cross hase few decorations, the lower part of the shaft is not original
the west side of Muiredach's Cross
the capstone has the shape of a house and may refer to a reliquary
Adam hands an apple to Eve while Cain is killing poor Abel
