Tight security for priceless Cross of Cong as it goes on display in Mayo

UNDERLINING THE “pricelessness” of the 12th century Cross of Cong after it was unveiled yesterday in its temporary new home, …

UNDERLINING THE “pricelessness” of the 12th century Cross of Cong after it was unveiled yesterday in its temporary new home, director of the National Museum Dr Pat Wallace said it had been brought back to Mayo under armed escort.

The cross, regarded as one of the country’s greatest treasures, can be seen in the Museum of Country Life at Turlough, near Castlebar.

Dr Wallace said the cross would be protected by tight security during its expected year on display in Mayo. He said it was beyond valuing as a historical artefact, art treasure and a Christian artefact which had been crafted to enshrine a relic of the true cross.

But Dr Wallace didn’t seem too concerned about the possibility of theft. “It’s very unlikely that any Irish person, even a criminal, would try to take an object like that. There’s no way they could sell or get rid of it,” he told reporters prior to the unveiling.

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Dating from 1123, the Cross of Cong is so called because it was kept in the Augustinian Abbey in Cong for centuries. During the 19th century it was sold to a mathematician James McCullagh for 100 guineas to raise money for a new slate roof on Cong church. In 1839, McCullagh donated the cross to the Royal Irish Academy, the precursors of the National Museum.

There is great delight that the cross is at last back in Mayo but Dr Wallace yesterday stressed it had returned to its home province rather than its home county as it was made in Roscommon and was commissioned by the king of Ireland, one of the O’Connor dynasty, who was based in Tuam, Co Galway, at the time.

Dr Wallace said the length of its stay at the National Museum of Country Life depended on the numbers of people coming to see it. Fr Paddy Gilligan, the present parish priest of Cong, was one of those who attended yesterday’s unveiling where it was recalled that one of his predecessors Fr Patrick Lavelle had attempted to steal the cross from the Royal Irish Academy in 1870 but was caught and arrested before he got to the railway station.

New discoveries about the cross in recent months include the fact that it is made of sheets of brass and cast brass instead of sheets of bronze as thought previously.

Further research is to be carried out as the National Museum says the cross “has not yielded up all its secrets”.