Iona Abbey - The Carvings (i)

[endlessrarities]

Back to Iona now, and the start of a series of posts on stone carving and sculpture.

My first example is a sedilia located in the chancel.  It appears to be contemporary with the c.1500 rebuild of the abbey.

The tomb effigy in the foreground is extremely well preserved, too.

Iona Abbey has recovered well from past neglect.  It was allegedly wrecked by a Protestant mob during the Reformation (that's mobs for you!) and by the 1700s, it had fallen into ruins. 

Tomorrow, I'll give you a closer look at some of the carved capitals... 

Comments

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

Nice cushioned seats so the clergy could rest their weary buttocks upon it during mass...

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Now I'm laughing, imagining someone in the scullery department getting confused in the same way I did and lighting fires under those cushioned seats.