University of Virginia Library

THE EIGHT-LOBED ROSETTE:
A STELLAR AND APOTROPAIC SYMBOL

One of the smaller unexplained motifs of the Plan of St.
Gall is the eight-lobed rosette that decorates the area in the
center of the two church towers which corresponds to the
open shaft of its stairs. The same motif appears on the two
poultry houses in connection with a circular "tower-like"
projection.[15] It has been interpreted in various ways, as
"being of no significance,"[16] as "indicating the conical
roof of the building, or its ornamental finial,"[17] and as
representing "the decorative design in the shingles which
cover the roof of the building."[18] None of these explanations
seems convincing. The motif, rather, belongs to an
old and widespread family of stellar symbols, the origins
of which reach back into antiquity. Eight- or six-lobed
rosettes, as symbols of the stellar nature of God, are a
common occurrence in Sumerian, Babylonian, Jewish, and
Roman art (fig. 88). The motif was quickly absorbed into
the Christian cult, as a reference to the celestial nature of
the new god, and subsequently became so closely associated
with the cross of Christ as to be practically interchangeable
with it (figs. 89 and 90).[19] The symbol placed its bearers
under the stellar protection of Christ, and through a
vernacular vulgarization of its original meaning eventually
assumed the role of a charm against lightning and fire, or
against disease affecting the health of livestock. The
symbol appears frequently in monastic medieval tithe
barns (fig. 91),[20] and survives to this very day in the
repertoire of decorative motifs, which are locally referred
to as "hex-signs," on numerous barns in the state of
Pennsylvania, in the United States of America (fig. 92).[21]