THIS SECTION EXPANDING MAY 2004

Until recently, Celtic Art has been regarded as a mysterious relic of an archaic culture and people who once lived in Ireland,the British Isles, and mainland Europe. However, despite attempts by successive invaders and cultures attempts to dislodge the Celtic traditions from Ireland, they have survived and strengthened. Disappearing but briefly into the remote and misty Irish bogs, the Celtic peoples have survived all hardships to maintain their cultural heritage and move it forth into the future.

The Celts it seemed, first developed as a culture in the early Bronze Age. During the latter part of the fifth century B.C. they were primarly a central European culture. Due to migration, conflict and upheaval, they eventually spread their people and their ways from Spain to Scandinavia, and from Galatia in Asia Minor, to the Atlantic coasts of Britain and Ireland. The Celtic peoples never founded any empire. They were simply a mass of independent tribes or clans who occasionally formed temporary confederacies for common actions, such as war,when necessary. Communication for the Celts was a problem, yet in their language, myth, ritual, belief, and art, they were in unison. The Roman's typically reffered to the Celt people's as 'Barbarrian', yet their legacy of culture and art leaves the Roman empire paling in comparrison, the Roman legacy being one of Barbarric conquests and forced slavery. The Celts were a brave fighting people, skilled in the use of horse and chariot, yet they had made many advances in agricultural area's. They were well versed with the use of iron and other metals, and with the arts of weaving. Amazingly, as skilled as they were in arts and crafts, the pre-Christian Celts lacked a written language. We partially rely on biased outside accounts from the time, as their own history and traditions were handed down by word of mouth from one generation to the next . They did have an order of 'Bards', these were highly trained poets whose duty to their people was to learn and compose poetry dealing with their peoples and recite them as an educative system. Religion was taught by the Druids. Only in the first century B.C. did the Celts learn to use the Greek alphabet. Later, the Roman alphabet was adopted and modified to permit Celtic speech and writing. To fully appreciate the art of the Celts, it is necessary to understand the distinction between two particularly different styles of expression. The first is naturalistic art, creations which represent what is seen in nature. The second is abstract, or geometric art. It imitates nothing in particular in the physical sense. Ornamental and astheticaly pleasing interwoven or flowing lines creating wonderfully decorative patterns dependent on balance and proportion. The objects unearthed that were produced by Celtic craftsmen were of extremely elegant form and pleasing proportion. Decorations were always appropriate, applied tastefully, and with restraint. When Rome began to extend her powers throughout continental Europe, the staunchly independant Celts who refused to be ruled by outside force and culture were pushed by necessity off the mainland. groups and Clans of Celtic people's crossed over to the British Isles. They brought their skills, arts and customs along. The strongest surviving proof of Celtic art, despite its mainland European origins, are to be found in Scotland and Ireland. Rugged area's where the staunchest of the Celtic populace remained largerly undisturbed. They carried the old traditions of their art onward in their hearts, and thus created their greatest masterpieces in the form of illuminated manuscripts such as the ledgendary 'Book of Kells'.