# North Cross [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [PRE-ROMANESQUE SCULPTOR, Irish]() - Date: 0751-0800 - Technique: Stone ## Commentary Clonmacnois was one of the most celebrated Early Christian monasteries in Ireland, famed for its learning and artistic patronage and best known today for an outstanding collection of monuments and stone carvings. The monastery was founded by St Ciaran in 545 on a commanding site above a bend in the River Shannon. What started as a small religious community became the core of a monastic city, with much commercial activity and hundreds of lay inhabitants. The range and quality of stone carving to be found at Clonmacnois are unparalleled in Ireland. The sculpture falls into a number of categories. Over 400 incised grave slabs survive from the early monastic period \(7th–12th century\), decorated with various forms of cross. Many are inscribed with personal names. Standard designs using knotwork, spirals, and frets in a restrained manner were used over a long period. One of the most attractive is a Latin cross with expanded semicircular terminals. Three cross shafts \(the so-called 'North Cross', 'West Cross', and 'Lions' Shaft'\), carved in low relief, were the product of a distinctive workshop, evidently based at Clonmacnois c. 800. The subjects depicted are without explicit Christian meaning, unless the prancing 'lion', a favourite motif, is to be interpreted symbolically. The crosses lack bases, and in each case one of their main faces is uncarved, suggesting an intended location against a building. The photo shows the North Cross. ## Related artworks - [Ahenny High Cross]() - [Ahenny High Crosses]() - [Ahenny High Crosses]() - [Cross of Scriptures]() - [Cross of Scriptures]() - [Moone High Cross \(detail\)]() - [Moone High Cross \(detail\)]() - [Moone High Cross]() - [Moone High Cross]() - [Muiredach's High Cross]() - [Muiredach's High Cross]() - [North Cross]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()