This book surveys the full richness of Celtic art and discusses the settlements, social structure, cultural backgrounds, foreign contacts and the technological and spiritual developments that created it. Taking into account the archaeological and historical contexts as well as the art-historical, the authors attempt to get closer to the art through the people who created, ordered, paid for and enjoyed the many treasures illustrated here, such as the Tara Brooch and the Monymusk Reliquary as well as countless less well-known items some discovered as recently as 1994.