Ireland’s Oldest Book Shrine

 From ArtNet News:

In 1986, divers fished a series of ancient fragments out of a lake in a Longford County village in Ireland. The pieces were well-preserved, thanks to sediments in the lake—but they were no humble find. When researchers eventually fitted the wood, metal, and decorative components together, what emerged was nothing less than Ireland’s largest and oldest book shrine.

 Nearly four decades after its discovery, the Lough Kinale Book Shrine, so named for its find site, is now on view at the National Museum of Ireland (NMI), where it was conserved.

And it’s quite a sight: the 9th-century book shrine, an elaborate container for a manuscript associated with a saint, is an oak box overlaid with bronze plates, measuring more than 13 by 11 inches, with a thickness of almost five inches. On its face is florid metalwork with four circular medallions and a large cross, encircled by ornately embellished openwork panels. Its hinges are in the shape of snake heads, built to hold a thick leather strap for transportation of the book shrine to ecclesiastical ceremonies.

Otherwise, Paul Mullarkey, a conservator at the museum, told the Irish Times: “The box was permanently sealed, with no direct access to the contents.” (Read more.)