High Cross

A high cross or standing cross (Irish: cros ard / ardchros, Scottish Gaelic: crois àrd / àrd-chrois, Welsh: croes uchel / croes eglwysig) is a free-standing Christian cross made of stone and often richly decorated. There was a unique Early Medieval tradition in Ireland and Britain of raising large sculpted stone crosses, usually outdoors. These probably developed from earlier traditions using wood, perhaps with metalwork attachments, and earlier pagan Celtic memorial stones; the Pictish stones of Scotland may also have influenced the form. The earliest surviving examples seem to come from the territory of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, which had been converted to Christianity by Irish missionaries; it remains unclear whether the form first developed in Ireland or Britain.

The crosses often, though not always, feature a stone ring around the intersection, forming a Celtic cross; this seems clearly an innovation of Celtic Christianity, perhaps at Iona. The term "high cross" is mainly used in Ireland and Scotland, but the tradition across the whole of the British Isles, is essentially a single phenomenon, though there are certainly strong regional variations. Some crosses were erected just outside churches and monasteries; others at sites that may have marked boundaries or crossroads, or preceded churches. Whether they were used as "preaching crosses" at early dates is unclear, and many crosses have been moved to their present locations.

Read more about High Cross:  Ireland and Britain, Scandinavia, Notable Crosses, Modern Period, Gallery

Famous quotes containing the words high and/or cross:

    As high as mind stands above nature, so high does the state stand above physical life. Man must therefore venerate the state as a secular deity.... The march of God in the world, that is what the State is.
    Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)

    Expecting me to grovel,
    she carefully covers both feet
    with the hem of her skirt.
    She pretends to hide
    a coming smile
    and won’t look straight at me.
    When I talk to her,
    she chats with her friend
    in cross tones.
    Even this slim girl’s rising anger
    delights me,
    let alone her deep love.
    Amaru (c. seventh century A.D.)