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Sacred Art & Iconography

Tjangvide Image Stone

Norse and Germanic Art

A carved limestone picture stone, about 1.7 metres tall, from Tjangvide farm on the island of Gotland, Sweden, discovered in 1844. Its upper panel is dominated by a rider mounted on an eight-legged horse, widely identified as Odin on Sleipnir, his mythic horse, though the same image is also read as any dead warrior arriving at Odin's hall of Valhalla, the two readings not being mutually exclusive in a scene meant to evoke the god's hall generally. A woman stands beside the rider extending a drinking horn, understood as a valkyrie welcoming the newly dead. The stone carries further, lower panels showing a ship under sail and other figures, typical of the Gotlandic picture-stone tradition. Since the late 19th century the Tjangvide rider has served as the emblem of the Swedish History Museum, which holds the original. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Custody
Current LocationSourced to the subject's own account
Swedish History Museum (Statens Historiska Museum), Stockholm 1
Current CustodianSourced to the subject's own account
Swedish History Museum 1
Custody HistorySourced to the subject's own account
Discovered on the farm of Tjangvide, Gotland, in 1844; held by the Swedish History Museum, Stockholm, since, and used as the museum's own emblem since the late 19th century. 1
Medium (class)Sourced to the subject's own account
Sculpture 1
Origins
CreationSourced to the subject's own account
700 to 900 CE 1
Date of CreationSourced to the subject's own account
Viking Age, about 700 to 900 AD 1
CountrySourced to the subject's own account
Sweden 1
Subject Matter
Depicted SubjectSourced to the subject's own account
Odin riding the eight-legged horse Sleipnir, met by a valkyrie offering a drinking horn. 2
Physical Form
MediumSourced to the subject's own account
Carved limestone 1
DimensionsSourced to the subject's own account
About 1.7 metres tall 1
Rights and Reproduction
Reproduction and CopyrightSourced to the subject's own account
This atlas describes and cites the stone rather than reproducing a photograph of it. 1
Classification
Object TypeSourced to the subject's own account
Sculpture or Statuary 1
Connections

Associated With

Sweden, Countries

This source names Sweden directly: "farm on the island of Gotland, Sweden, discovered in 1844."

Source Tjangvide Image Stone, Wikipedia

Belongs to Tradition

Heathenry, Religions
Source Tjangvide Image Stone, Wikipedia

Depicts

Odin, Deities
Source Odin on Sleipnir (Tjangvide Image Stone), World History Encyclopedia
Sources
1. Tjangvide Image Stone, Wikipedia
Wikipedia
  • Lead section, identifying the stone
    The Tjängvide image stone, listed in Rundata as Gotland Runic Inscription 110 or G 110, is a Viking Age image stone (made c. 700-900 CE), from Tjängvide
  • catalogue record, medium/object-type description
    A carved limestone picture stone, about 1.
View the Source
2. Odin on Sleipnir (Tjangvide Image Stone), World History Encyclopedia
World History EncyclopediaImage caption page
Quote, Image caption page
The Tjängvide image stone dating to the Viking Age found in Gotland, Sweden and probably showing Odin on his horse Sleipnir (or otherwise a dead man arriving at Odin's hall of Valhalla) on the middle-right.
View the Source
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