Necklace with cross
(10th century)
The necklace is composed of an amber cross, two blue, two yellow and 403 green glass beads. The object was found in the cemetery near the church on the acropolis of the hill-fort in Libice nad Cidlinou. The use of amber as raw material of the cross is quite unique on our territory. Amber appears more often in early medieval necklaces in form of much smaller beads. This unique find is therefore a very rare evidence of the gradual Christianisation of Bohemia as well as of direct contacts with the Baltics. The item is exceptional also thanks to its dating to the lifetime of St. Adalbert who suffered a martyr´s death by the hand of the Baltic Prussians.