# Columbarium Tomb Plaque with the Monogram of Christ

- Date: 400–800
- Medium: terracotta
- Classification: Sculpture
- Dimensions: Overall: 32.4 x 20.8 cm (12 3/4 x 8 3/16 in.)
- Culture: Spain (Visigothic or Byzantine)
- Credit line: Gift of John D. Rockefeller Jr.
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/1938.160)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1938.160/1938.160_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This thick clay plaque covered a burial niche that contained the remains of the deceased in a simple communal tomb complex called a columbarium. The chi-rho monogram of Christ identifies the deceased as a Christian. The monogram was seen as representing Christ’s victory over death, while the letters that flank it, alpha and omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, symbolize Christ as the beginning and end of all things.