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Welcome to
shee-eire.com's
section on Arts and Crafts.
In this section we
will be looking at the Arts and Crafts of the Celtic and Pre-Celtic peoples of
Ireland. The Celts were well known for their Jewelry, weaponry, & pottery. Their Jewelry tells of a highly advanced culture with plenty of leisure time to
create such works of craftsmanship and not the primitive culture that history
tends to portray.
The peoples of the Bronze Age are pre-Celtic and they
created the gold lunulae and gorgets so admired by us today. All gold and bronze artifacts can be seen in the National Museum of Ireland.
There are also many artifacts which for
various reasons are not on display in the main galleries, 'Victorian'
prudery prevented the small sculptures known as 'Sheela-na-Gigs' from being
shown until very recently.
The 'Sheela-na-Gigs' that they own are kept in the
vaults they can be viewed by appointment, although now they have one of
these artifacts on display in their main galleries.
Medieval Arts
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Sheela-na-Gigs |
Clothing |
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Modern Celtic Art |
Modern Irish Art |
Modern
Crafts |
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Sheela-na-Gigs
The 'Sheela-na-gigs' are controversial as they depict images of males and females displaying their
genitals. Also very little is known of their origins, most writers
say they date from the 'eleventh century A.D'. and were an Irish version of
the carvings of exhibitionist figures on the churches in Europe.
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Lintel from Rath Blathmaic
Church, Co. Clare |
They were inserted into the Romanesque
Churches. Some were inserted into later churches but were
hidden from view or inserted upside-down as in the Rath Blathmaic
Church.
A good site to reference for the Sheela-na-gigs is http://www.irelands-sheelanagigs.org which has a full listing of all of them. |
Detail
-note: carving is upside-down |
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Note- This part of the site is being added to all the
time call back often for NEW sections.
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Last Updated -
January 1, 2025
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