Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Tradition says that the chapel's easy-tocut sandstone was quarried 12 miles away, and
the blocks were passed from hand to hand back to the Rock. (It's unlikely that they had
the manpower to form a conga line that long—they probably used oxen-pulled carts.) The
two square towers resemble those in Regensburg, Germany, further suggesting that well-
traveled medieval Irish monks brought back new ideas from the Continent.
• The modern, dark-glass chapel door (always unlocked) is a recent addition to keep out
nesting birds. Enter the chapel (remembering to close the door behind you) and let your
eyes adjust to the low light.
Chapel Interior:
Just inside the chapel is an empty stone
sarcophagus.
Nobody
knows for sure whose body once lay here (possibly the brother of King Cormac
MacCarthy). The damaged front relief is carved in the Scandinavian Urnes style. Vikings
raided Ireland, intermarried with the Irish, and were melting into Irish society by the time
this chapel was built. Some scholars interpret the relief design (a tangle of snakes and
beasts) as a figure-eight lying on its side, looping back and forth forever, symbolizing the
eternity of the afterlife.
With your back to the sarcophagus, let your eyes wander around the chapel interior.
You'restandinginthe
nave,
litbythethreewindows(partiallyblockedbythelatercathed-
ral, which is outside to the left) in the wall behind you. Overhead is a round vaulted ceil-
ing with support ribs. The strong round arches support not only the heavy stone roof, but
also the (unseen) second-story scriptorium chamber, where chilly monks, warmed only by
candlelight, once carefully copied manuscripts.
The
chancel arch,
studded with fist-size heads, framed the altar (now gone). The lower
heads are more grotesque, while those nearing the top become serene as they climb closer
to God. The arch is off-center in relation to the nave, symbolic of Christ's head drooping
to the side as he died on the cross.
Walk into the chancel and look up at the ceiling, examining the faint
frescoes,
a labor
of love from 850 years ago. Frescoes are rare in Ireland because of the perpetually moist
climate. (Mixing pigments into wet plaster worked better in dry climates like Italy's.)
Once vividly colorful, then fading over time, these frescoes were further damaged dur-
ing the Reformation. Such ornamentation was considered vain by Protestants, who piously
whitewashed over them. These surviving frescoes were discovered under multiple layers
of whitewash during painstaking modern restoration. The rich blue color came from lapis
lazuli, an expensive gemstone imported from Asia.
• Walk through the other modern, dark-glass doorway (don't let the birds in), opposite the
door you used to enter the chapel. You'll find yourself in a...
Forgotten Void:
This enclosed space (roughly 30feet square) was created when the
newer cathedral was wedged between the older chapel and the round tower. Once the main
