Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
Adamnan's De Locis Sanctis (Author: Adamnan of Iona)

Chapter/toc 3

CONCERNING THE STONE WHICH WAS ROLLED TO
25] 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,
30] 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
35] 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
5] 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.