An early C8th Anglian preaching & teaching cross placed in the sunken-floored apse of Ruthwell Parish Church, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, UK.
Image details
Contributor:
Mick Sharp / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
2WRMTAYFile size:
29.3 MB (1.5 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
2706 x 3780 px | 22.9 x 32 cm | 9 x 12.6 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
22 May 1991Location:
Ruthwell Cross, Ruthwell Parish Church, Ruthwell, Annan, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, UKMore information:
An early C8th Anglian preaching & teaching cross placed in the sunken-floored apse of Ruthwell Parish Church, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, UK. Created around 730AD when SW Scotland was part of the Kingdom of Northumbria, it features carved scenes from the New Testament with Latin inscriptions describing the panels, swirling vines with animals & birds eating grapes symbolising the Eucharist or Creation, & text in Anglo-Saxon runes from The Dream of the Rood, an Old English poem describing the Crucifixion from the point of view of the Cross (Rood). Panels photographed from top show St John the Evangelist with his eagle emblem; an archer in profile; the Vistation of Elizabeth to the Virgin Mary with runic text including 'Mary, mother of the Lord'; and Jesus healing the man blind from birth. The cross was broken up in 1642 in response to a Church of Scotland act against idolatrous monuments. Some sections were kept in the church as seats, others buried in the churchyard. In 1823 the Rev Henry Duncan reassembled the cross, had a local stone mason create replacement parts for those missing and re-erected the cross at the gateway to the manse. It was placed in the purpose-built church apse in 1887.