Book of Kells

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Painting · c. 800 · Probably Iona, finished at Kells · Europe

Summit of Insular manuscripts: 340 folios of near-endless interlace and fantastic beasts

Book of Kells — Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Style: Insular art (Ireland and Britain) — Celtic knots and interlaced beasts on Gospel pages: ornament as prayer
Century: 8th century

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Made around the same time (±30 years)

c. 790 Bonampak murals · Classic Maya art · Bonampak, Mexico
785–987 Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba · Moorish style (al-Andalus) · Córdoba

What was happening in the world

800 Coronation of Charlemagne
c. 800–950 Drought and the Classic Maya collapse
793 Viking raid on Lindisfarne
802 Founding of the Khmer Empire