Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
Adamnan's De Locis Sanctis (Author: Adamnan of Iona)
Chapter/toc 3
CONCERNING THE STONE WHICH WAS ROLLED TO
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THE DOOR OF THE MONUMENTUM
At this juncture a brief account seems desirable of the stone (mentioned
above), which was rolled to the door of the Lord's monumentum with
the assistance of many men, after his crucifixion and burial. According
to Arculf it is split and divided into two parts. The smaller portion,
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dressed by tools and set up as a square altar, can be seen standing in the
round church mentioned above: the larger portion of the stone, similarly
dressed on all sides, forms another quadrangular altar covered by
linens in the eastern part of the same church.
Then, concerning the colouring of the rock, in which is the domed
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structure often mentioned, hollowed out inside by the chisels of the
dressers, and containing in its northern portion the Lord's sepulchrum
p.49
(which is cut out of the very same rock as the monumentum, that is the
domed structure itself), Arculf when questioned by me said: That domed
structure which constitutes the Lord's monumentum is devoid of ornament
on the inside, and up to this day shows the traces of the tools which the
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dressers or cutters used in their work. However, the colour of the rock
(which is one and the same for monumentum and sepulchrum) is not one.
Two colours seem to be mixed, red that is, and white, and as a result
the same rock presents a two-coloured aspect. But let the foregoing
remarks suffice on this topic.