The Clonmacnoise Crozier is a late-11th-century Insular crozier that
would have been used as a ceremonial staff for bishops and high-status
abbots. Discovered before 1821 in the monastery of Clonmacnoise in
County Offaly, Ireland, it consists of a shaft and curved crook,
decorated with elements of Viking art. It may have been associated with
Saint Ciarán of Clonmacnoise (died c. 549), and was perhaps
commissioned by Tigernach Ua Braín (died 1088), Abbot of Clonmacnoise,
but little is known of its origin or rediscovery. Largely intact, it is
one of the best preserved pieces of Insular metalwork. The antiquarian
and collector Henry Charles Sirr, Lord Mayor of Dublin, held it until
the Royal Irish Academy acquired his collection on his death in 1844. It
was transferred to the archaeology branch of the National Museum of
Ireland on Kildare Street on the branch's foundation in 1890. The
archaeologist and art historian Griffin Murray has described it as "one
of [the] finest examples of early medieval metalwork from Ireland".
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clonmacnoise_Crozier>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1810:
The Primera Junta, the first independent government in
Argentina, was established in an open cabildo in Buenos Aires, marking
the end of the May Revolution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Revolution>
1944:
The Wehrmacht and their collaborationist allies launched
Operation Rösselsprung, a failed attempt to assassinate the Yugoslav
Partisan leader Josip Broz Tito.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_R%C3%B6sselsprung_%281944%29>
1962:
The Baltimore Steam Packet Company, the last overnight
steamboat service in the United States, went out of business.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_Steam_Packet_Company>
2012:
In a test flight, SpaceX's Dragon became the first commercial
spacecraft to rendezvous and berth with the International Space Station.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Dragon>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
overt:
Open and not concealed or secret.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/overt>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Voice, come out of the silence. Say something. Appear in the
form of a spider Or a moth beating the curtain. Tell me: Which is
the way I take; Out of what door` do I go, Where and to whom? Dark
hollows said, lee to the wind, The moon said, back of an eel, The salt
said, look by the sea, Your tears are not enough praise, You will find
no comfort here, In the kingdom of bang and blab.
--Theodore Roethke
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Theodore_Roethke>