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POPSArt of the DEAD: Ancient Irish High Cross Art
"About 200 of them survive, in varying condition, many of them decorated with scriptural scenes. This iconography, some of it simple, some of it ingeniously complex, has been meticulously explored by archaeologist/art historian Dr Peter Harbison in his definitive three volume study, The High Crosses of Ireland (Bonn, 1992). It is a major work which is yet to be published in Ireland. In it Harbison has identified ancient Christian Rome from AD 400 onwards as the most likely inspiration for the Irish crosses, "but the figure sculpture may have come to our shores largely through the filter of the empire of Charlemagne and his sons in central Europe". The compositions for the biblical panels on the Irish crosses are often similar to those found on frescoes in continental churches. " During the past 20 years or so, several of the high crosses have been moved indoors in an attempt to prevent further erosion. One of the first to be relocated was the cross at the Rock of Cashel which was re
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