Stitchers: Bernie Goslin, Margaret Tynan-Connolly, Mary Masterson, Anna Byrne, Flo Goslin, Louise Melia (Dublin, Port Seton).
The Book of Kells is considered to be one of Ireland’s greatest artistic treasures. Believed to date to around 800AD, it is a spectacularly illuminated copy of the Gospels. Although it spent its medieval life in the Abbey of Kells in County Meath, it is thought perhaps to be from Kells’ parent house Iona, itself founded by the Irish monk St Columba (Colmcille). Perhaps from there it was displaced by Viking raids, which affected both Scotland and Ireland around this time. Iona was the heart of Celtic Christianity: if the Book was created there, it is a beautiful symbol of the connectivity between early Scots and Irish Christians.
IE02 Leabhar Cheanannais Mhòir
Tha Leabhar Cheanannais Mhòir air fhaicinn mar aon de na h-ulaidhean ealain as cliùitiche ann an Èirinn. Thathar a’ creidsinn gun tugadh e gu bith timcheall air 800AD, is e Tiomnadh Nuadh a th’ ann a tha a’ taisbeanadh modh sgrìobhaidh mìorbhaileach soilleirichte. Ged a chuir e seachad a bheatha sna meadhan-aoisean ann an Abaid Cheanannais ann an Contae na Mí, thathar den bheachd gur dòcha gur e obair mhanaich à Eilean Idhe a th’ ann. Dh’fhaodadh gun deach a thoirt às an sin aig àm chreachan leis na Lochlannaich, a thug buaidh air Alba agus Èirinn mun àm seo. Bha Eilean Idhe aig cridhe Crìosdaidheachd Ceilteach: ma chaidh an leabhar a chruthachadh an sin, is e samhla àlainn a th’ ann den cheangal phrìseil eadar Albannaich sna tràth-aoisean agus Crìosdaidhean na h-Èireann.