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The Valþjófsstaður door is a medieval carved church door in the National Museum of Iceland. It depicts a version of the Lion-Knight legend where a knight slays a dragon, thus freeing a lion that becomes his companion; this story is similar to the tale of Yvain, the Knight of the Lion and of several Icelandic chivalric sagas. It is the only medieval Icelandic carved door in existence and contains a rare example of runic script carved in wood. The door is in the Romanesque style (fitted to a semi-circular arch) and carved in pine. At the center is an iron ring that is finely inlaid with silver. A rune at the bottom of the upper carved roundel may be the mark of the master-carver. == History == The door is commonly dated to about 1200 A.D. but a date of no later than 1150 has been argued, based on the style of the knight's dress and equipment, particularly the helm with nasal and back-piece and the saddle type. The earliest known reference to the door is a mention by Bishop Brynjólfur Sveinsson in his Visitation Book dated 1641. Old Icelandic documents indicate the original church was built around 1190. In 1851 the priest of the church sent the door to the Royal Museum of Northern Antiquities in Copenhagen (now the National Museum of Denmark.) At that time it underwent restoration work and layers of paint were removed. In 1930 the door was returned to Iceland for the 1000-year anniversary of the establishment of the Althing (parliament of Iceland) and is now on permanent exhibition in the National Museum of Iceland It has been speculated that the door might originally have belonged to a different structure; another speculation is that it might have been modified from a much taller original door with a third carved roundel. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Valþjófsstaður door」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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