Muiredach's High Cross

These high crosses are decorated with panels inscribed with biblical themes; and are thought to be influenced from late antiquity and early medieval Rome.

Such 'classic' high crosses comprise the largest corpus of biblical sculpture in all of Europe, in the last quarter of the first millennium CE.

Early forms are thought to have been made of wood, with ornamented panels of bronze sheeting; and would have been much smaller than the grand high crosses which survive today.

The topmost stone, or capstone, is carved in the shape of a house, with a sloping roof; and has a crescent-shaped finial at each end.

Biblical themes dominate the carved panels; though there are pieces which feature certain geometric shapes and interlace ornaments.

[4] 20th century Irish archaeologist Robert Alexander Stewart Macalister noted that there are 124 figures sculpted upon the panels of the cross—119 of which shown in some form of costume.

[7] Generally the hair is worn clipped in a straight line over the forehead, though in some cases it is shown to be distinctly curly.

Many of the figures have no facial hair, though several of them wear very long moustaches, with heavy ends which hang down to the level of the chin.

In 2004 Barry McGahon, chairperson of the Monasterboice Tour Guides, stated to an Irish newspaper that it was not well protected; and suggested that a railing around the cross would temporally keep people from interfering with it.

He added that acid rain and pollution from a newly opened M1 motorway would have adverse effects upon the cross.

[11] In about 2008 Harbison stated that the crosses at Monasterboice could probably be regarded as Ireland's greatest contribution to European sculpture.

In April 2009 The Irish Times reported that the Government of Ireland was about to submit a list of sites—among them Monasterboice—to UNESCO to be considered a World Heritage Site.