Art and Design

The Triskele

Visit

Possible to visit

The emblem called the triskele is thousands of years old. Examples can look very different from one another but all triskeles have three identical branches around a centre, like a clover leaf. They were very important in Celtic Art, found in stone carvings, illuminated books and metalwork. Because they are rotationally symmetrical they look the same when you turn them round.

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A famous example is the Iron Age plaque found in Llyn Cerrig Bach on Anglesey. It probably dates from about 100 BC and may have been on the front of a shield or a chariot. It is a bronze sheet and the pattern was beaten in from the back.

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Iron Age plaque found in Llyn Cerrig Bach, Anglesey

Task

You will need pens or pencils and paper.

  • Follow the videos to make a triskele of your own. This kind is simpler than the one from Llyn Cerrig Bach and is a kind of Celtic knot.

How to draw a triskele?