Glendalough

This virtual tour is a continuation of Celtic Monasticism: History and Spiruality. Visitors who have not visited that site may want to review these materials, and especially the discusion of the holy sites on which monasteries were built. The importance of the burial ground and of the circular shape in pre-Christian Celtic monuments was carried over into the Celtic Christian monastery. Graveyards were the most sacred place of a Celtic monastery, and were located within the walls of the monastery. This was very unusual, as in European monasteries or cities they were placed outside the walls.

The graveyard at Glendalough looking toward St. Kevin's Kitchen

These stones in Glendalough's cemetery mark mass graves of those who died in the Irish potato famine.

The graveyard was the place of resurrection, a thin place, where one would cross from this world to the next. To further explore the graveyard at Glendalough, view the quicktime slide show video below.

So holy and sacred a place was it that the unbaptized were placed outside of the walls, such as this tiny little unmarked grave at the women's church outside the walls of Glendalough.

The monastery at Glendalough was enclosed within a circular wall. Unlike Benedictine monasteries, Celtic monasteries embraced entire families; men, women, their children and animals lived in the outer walls, while the celibates lived within the inner walls. In these worlds within the walls, they prayed and worked together in unity with all creation.

This is a model of what life at Glendalough might have looked like, which can be seen in the museum The circular walls had a practical use, as they prevented erosion and also, according to canon law, marked off the church property as a sanctuary.

The circular walls also marked off the presence of the saint whose relics were contained within.

Finally, they were a potent symbol of the cosmos, symbolically contained within the walls. Here, one might find one's place of resurrection.

Continue to the next page: Virtual Tour of Glendalough: Bell Tower

Return to the Index of Celtic Monasticism

To return to the medieval monasticim home page, click here. To return to the virtual tours page, click here.

This site is dedicated with love to the Benedictine Sisters of Mt. St. Scholastica, who modeled for me in so many ways the Benedictine life; especially to Sister Therese Elias, O.S.B. of Mt. St. Scholastica, Esther de Waal, Hereford, UK, and Father Marcus Losack, Ireland, who made my journeys to the Celtic lands possible; and to all those pilgrims with whom I have shared these journeys and the journey of life. Thanks to all for special gifts received ...

copyright © Dr. Deborah Vess 1999. All rights reserved. Photographs by Dr. Deborah Vess. Visitors to this site are welcome to use the photos and other information for educational purposes provided that user acknowledges the source.

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Dr. Deborah Vess
Vice President for Academic Affairs
Amarillo College
PO Box 447
Amarillo, Texas 79109

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