Celtic Symbols

The Book of Kells is an Irish manuscript from around 800, written in Latin and elaborately illustrated with religious and mythical art. It was written by monks and is a translation of the four Gospels of the New Testament along with commentary.

Although the Book of Kells is primarily a Christian religious book, it is also of interest to many people as a source of Celtic artwork. It has many illustrations of humans, mythic beasts (known as zoomorphic images) as well as many great examples of Celtic knotwork.

The Book of Kells is composed of four volumes, and the original manuscript is presently on display at Trinity College in Dublin.

The Book of Kells is an Irish manuscript from around 800, written in Latin and elaborately illustrated with religious and mythical art. It was written by monks and is a translation of the four Gospels of the New Testament along with commentary.

Although the Book of Kells is primarily a Christian religious book, it is also of interest to many people as a source of Celtic artwork. It has many illustrations of humans, mythic beasts (known as zoomorphic images) as well as many great examples of Celtic knotwork.

The Book of Kells is composed of four volumes, and the original manuscript is presently on display at Trinity College in Dublin.

Someone has posted a whole series of videos that show how to work with clay to make Celtic style sculptures. I don’t know if you can learn something like this from a video if you’ve never (or hardly) worked with clay before, but it’s still interesting to see how it’s done. And for people who have some experience with clay, it might give you inspiration to sculpt in a more Celtic manner!

Thanks for visiting the Celtic Symbols blog! This site is inspired by the beauty and enduring popularity of Celtic symbols such as knotwork, zoomorphic images (those depicting animals, both real and imaginary, such as sea monsters and dragons) and other images. These images are very commonly seen today in many art books, in jewelry, as tattoos and fantasy art (paintings, book covers, CD covers, etc.).

Celtic art goes way back in history, and I’ll be exploring some of this fascinating tradition. There will also be links to other interesting sites and resources. I think Celtic symbols and artwork has such appeal, not only for its intrinsic beauty, but because it expresses something of the infinite, as in a Celtic knot. There is both a spirituality and earthiness to Celtic art.

I’d like to explore the many ways Celtic symbols have been used over the centuries, including languages. For example, one of the earliest Celtic languages was the Irish Tree Alphabet, known as Ogham. This, and other aspects of Celtic or Gaelic languages have also become very popular recently, especially in music.

So please visit this site often and keep up with this fascinating aspect of Celtic culture!