DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5073#0393
380
THE TOMBS.
those in the Bound Towers of Ireland ; the stone hinges
for the door, and the hollow for the bolt, yet remained.
The ceilings of most of the chambers were richly
ornamented with graceful patterns geometrically ar-
ranged, and many of them are still very perfect. In
one Tomb the ceiling was divided into diamond-shaped
compartments, those in the centre contained sculptures
of winged genii, and the others held busts in high
relief. Very rich cornices surround each chamber, and
are frequently employed on the outside of the tomb also.
In one there was a handsome variety of the egg-and-
rose ornament, with a battlemented moulding above
and below ; all were delicately but vigorously executed.
Each cell has its own loophole for ventilation.
In the inside of one chamber, over the doorway, we
saw the sculptured representation of a mummy placed
on a sofa with carved legs ; the foldings of the cloth,
with which the mummy was swathed, very distinctly
shown, and the body garlanded with an embroidered
band or wreath of flowers. The exterior of another
Tomb was distinguished on the second story by a pedi-
ment, and on the third or fourth story a tablet for an
inscription, guarded or supported on either side by the
head of an aged man with a long beard—beautiful
heads and finely executed; like old Greek busts of
grand, calm, restful, mighty faces—with closed eyes,
which one fancied seemed yet silently conscious of the
unnumbered ages that have passed over them, and have
left there an expression of grief, but also of noble, per-
fect rest—mingled into glorious harmony "of more
than human beauty." Above these, again, were two
kneeling figures, much destroyed, whether of men or
women we could not tell; on a still higher story two
small heads, with wings folded back, perfect and well
THE TOMBS.
those in the Bound Towers of Ireland ; the stone hinges
for the door, and the hollow for the bolt, yet remained.
The ceilings of most of the chambers were richly
ornamented with graceful patterns geometrically ar-
ranged, and many of them are still very perfect. In
one Tomb the ceiling was divided into diamond-shaped
compartments, those in the centre contained sculptures
of winged genii, and the others held busts in high
relief. Very rich cornices surround each chamber, and
are frequently employed on the outside of the tomb also.
In one there was a handsome variety of the egg-and-
rose ornament, with a battlemented moulding above
and below ; all were delicately but vigorously executed.
Each cell has its own loophole for ventilation.
In the inside of one chamber, over the doorway, we
saw the sculptured representation of a mummy placed
on a sofa with carved legs ; the foldings of the cloth,
with which the mummy was swathed, very distinctly
shown, and the body garlanded with an embroidered
band or wreath of flowers. The exterior of another
Tomb was distinguished on the second story by a pedi-
ment, and on the third or fourth story a tablet for an
inscription, guarded or supported on either side by the
head of an aged man with a long beard—beautiful
heads and finely executed; like old Greek busts of
grand, calm, restful, mighty faces—with closed eyes,
which one fancied seemed yet silently conscious of the
unnumbered ages that have passed over them, and have
left there an expression of grief, but also of noble, per-
fect rest—mingled into glorious harmony "of more
than human beauty." Above these, again, were two
kneeling figures, much destroyed, whether of men or
women we could not tell; on a still higher story two
small heads, with wings folded back, perfect and well