The Isle of Iona was a sacred place in the ancient world. It was “The Sacred Isle of the Blest” (Tir nan-Og) of the Celts. St. Columba founded a monastery on the island in 563. He brought the strength and the vision whereby the tiny isle became the ecclesiastical sear of Scotland and the spiritual home of Celtic Christianity. From the mid 8th to 9th century, the Iona artisan monks, possible Picts, created perhaps hundreds of sculptured crosses. Four of these remain standing today and the fragments of St. Oran’s cross lie in the Abby Museum.