Prayer Ring

Prayer Ring silver reproduction. The original ring can be seen at the Interpretative Center of the São João de Tarouca Monastery.

Reproduction made through advanced and non-intrusive 3D scanning methods. 

 PRAYER RING, 12th century, Silver, São João de Tarouca Monastery/Varosa Valley Monument Network

A one-of-a-kind find, the “prayer ring”, found during the archaeological excavation of the Monastery of São João de Tarouca, is of even greater importance since it sheds light on sacred ritual and the sanctification of hallowed spaces in the medieval period.

Probably dating from the beginning of the 12th century, the ring was found amongst the mortar of the Chapter House, the most important space immediately after the church, it could even be said the whole monastery was centred around it.

This silver ring features a set of eighteen capital letters, each corresponding to the beginning of a full verse of a prayer. The ring is joined by a modest black clay pot, found on the opposite side of the same Chapter Hall, somehow symbolising the dialectic between the sacred and mundane.