Updated 01.51 | Published 01.24
Just before Christmas, the Danish Museum Østjylland received an early pat. Someone had found a small crucifix with the help of a metal detector in the mud at Allelev in the eastern part of Midtjylland.
The crucifix is dated to the early Middle Ages, in the Nordics around the 12th century, and thus approximately as old as Denmark’s oldest crucifix “The golden crucifix”, manufactured between 1050-1100.
According to the museum, Jesus is portrayed as typical of the time as victorious, looking sternly at the viewer. Later in the Middle Ages, Jesus is depicted as suffering on the cross, with his head hanging.
It is a relic cross, with the back hollow to preserve a relic. But the back, and any relic, have not been found.