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Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn

Gravestone of Ursicinus with Chi-Rho (5th/6th cent.)
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Rheinisches Landesmuseum in Bonn

The gravestone of Ursicinus, dating from the 5th or 6th century AD. The inscription simply reads TETVLO URSICIN[I, "grave of Ursicinus." The central motif is the Christogram or Chi-Rho, formed from the first two letters of "Christ" in the Greek alphabet, along with the Alpha and Omega (first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, representing Christ as the beginning and the end).

The gravestone was found in 1929 during the excavations of the earliest church beneath the Bonn Münster. It originally formed part of a tympanum and was used secondarily as a gravestone. Found directly beneath it was a burial from the 8th century, so it is likely that an older stone was used to mark the grave.


1/24/08 2:14 PM
Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL
File name: 1159c

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