Muireadach Cross

Muireadach Cross Review

Dating to AD 923, the Muireadach Cross stands nearly 20 feet high and is considered to be the best-preserved example of a High Cross in Ireland. Its elaborate panels depict biblical scenes, including Cain slaying Abel, David and Goliath, and a centerpiece of the Last Judgment. (Figurative scenes are not a characteristic of earlier High Crosses, such as those found in Ahenny, County Clare.) The West Cross stands a couple of feet taller than Muiredach's, making it one of the tallest in Ireland. Its engravings are less impressive, many of them having been worn away by centuries of Irish wind and rain. From the adjacent, 110-foot-high round tower, the extent of the former monastic settlement at Monasterboice is apparent. The key to the tower door is kept at the nearby gate lodge.