Cleveland Museum of Art

Columbarium Tomb Plaque with the Monogram of Christ

Date

400–800

Medium

terracotta

Culture

Spain (Visigothic or Byzantine)

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This thick clay plaque covered a burial niche that contained the remains of the deceased in a simple communal tomb complex called a columbarium. The chi-rho monogram of Christ identifies the deceased as a Christian. The monogram was seen as representing Christ’s victory over death, while the letters that flank it, alpha and omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, symbolize Christ as the beginning and end of all things.

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