The celtic stone cross

The cross is 2.85 meters high, 1.15 meters wide and 6-15 cm thick, and is carved out of garnet mica slate from Hyllestad. This is one of a total of 54 stone crosses in Western Norway from the early Christian era in the 11th century, and this cross is of the Norwegian-Celtic type. The tradition of erecting stone crosses came from the British Isles. The crosses in Eivindvik were probably erected by Olav Tryggvason in connection with the Christianization of the country. One legend says that Olav consecrated the ground for church services here, erected the crosses and asked people to build a church on the site. Another legend says that he shot three arrows in different directions from the tingstad, and erected a cross where each arrow landed.

The Christianization of the country occurred, among other things, through decisions at assemblies, and the crosses in Eivindvik may have been erected in connection with such a decision. The location of the crosses has therefore also been used as an argument for the fact that the first Gulatinget was located in Eivindvik before it was moved to Flolid.

This cross was unfortunately damaged in connection with the removal of wood by the cemetery wall in 2012. One of the cross arms broke, and was later repaired.

The cross is part of the digital cultural walk in Eivindvik.