Ancient Viking crystal jar buried over 1,000 years ago to go on public display in Scotland
A remarkable rock crystal jar from the Galloway Hoard, one of the most significant Viking discoveries in the UK this century, will go on public display for the first time later this year at Kirkcudbright Galleries.
Unearthed in 2014 by metal detectorist Derek McLennan near Dumfries, the hoard was buried around AD 900 and contains an extraordinary array of items, including brooches, bracelets, pendants and rare relics.
Among them is the ornate rock crystal jar, which resembles a perfume bottle and features intricate gold embellishments.
National Museums Scotland, which acquired the collection in 2017, revealed the jar had been carefully wrapped in linen, placed in a silk-lined leather pouch, and sealed inside a larger lidded vessel alongside over 20 other precious objects.
Due to the fragile condition of the medieval textiles that encased it, believed to include Scotland's earliest example of silk, the jar has never before been on display.
Experts believe the jar is linked to the early medieval Christian church. A Latin inscription in gold, translated as 'Bishop Hyguald had me made,' is the clearest indication that at least part of the hoard may have originated from a religious community.
While gaps in 9th-century church records prevent precise identification, Hyguald is thought to have been a Northumbrian bishop.
This theory connects the hoard to the early medieval kingdom of Northumbria, which once encompassed Dumfries and Galloway and stretched from Edinburgh to Sheffield.
Dr Martin Goldberg of National Museums Scotland described the piece as 'one of the highlight objects from the Galloway Hoard.'
He added: 'From the beautiful rock crystal itself, originally carved in the form of a classical Corinthian column two thousand years ago, to the incredibly intricate gold decoration added hundreds of years later and including a clear inscription identifying its owner, this one object exemplifies the complex, connected and historic nature of the Galloway Hoard.'
Another key Christian artefact in the hoard is a magnificent Anglo-Saxon pectoral cross, featuring depictions of the four apostles.
Also significant is an arm ring bearing an Old English runic inscription, newly proposed to read as 'the community's wealth', suggesting a communal, possibly monastic, origin for some of the treasure.
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Dr Goldberg added: 'The jar was the subject of international attention when we first revealed the inscription, and it's great to be able to put it on display for the first time in Kirkcudbright.'
The hoard's global tour, Treasures of the Viking Age: The Galloway Hoard, is currently on show at the South Australian Museum in Adelaide until 27 July.
It will move to the Melbourne Museum from 29 August 2025 to 26 January 2026.
Further international venues will be announced in due course, along with long-term plans for the hoard's display in both Edinburgh and Kirkcudbright, near where it was discovered.
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