Anonymous: The Book of Kells, folio 34r - The Chi Rho-page (A.D. 800)

(Trinity College Library, Dublin, Ireland)

The so-called 'book of Kells' is illuminated manuscript which contains the four Gospels of the New Testament and some other texts. The manuscript was created in an unknown Columban monastery in Britain or Ireland. The name 'book of Kells' to the Abbey of Kells (in Kells, County Meath, Ireland) were it was kept from medieval times until the 1650s. The manuscripts has 340 folios (or pages) and is richly decorated. This page is one of the most famous pages - the Chi-Rho page. The entire page contains the Chi Rho monogram (Chi and rho are the first two letters of the word Christ in Greek). The entire page is richly decorated with knot work and hidden animals and insects. Book from around A.D. 800.