The fragment depicting the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child, shown in front of an image of a complete statue. Photo: Helgi Michelsen.
During the archaeological excavation at Sondum on Sandoy, a particularly significant discovery was made: a small fragment of a medieval statue depicting the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child. The find is a rare testimony to Catholic religious life in the Faroe Islands before the Reformation, when the Lutheran church system was introduced into the Faroe Islands by the Danish king during the latter half of the 1530s.
Statues of the Virgin Mary were a natural part of church life in the Catholic Church. They were not worshipped but were honoured as representations of the Mother of Jesus, who leads people to her Son. Such statues were commonly found in churches and chapels and formed an important part of the spiritual life of the faithful.
The emergence of such a statue from the ground at Sondum is a special reminder of the Christian and Catholic heritage of which the Faroe Islands were a part for many centuries. It reminds us that devotion to the Virgin Mary and her unique place in the history of salvation was a natural and integral part of church life here as well.
It is encouraging that archaeological work in the Faroe Islands continues to shed light on our shared cultural and ecclesiastical heritage.
Read more about the discovery from the National Museum of the Faroe Islands:
1) https://www.tjodsavnid.fo/greinir/runarsteinur-funnin-i-utgrevstri-a-sondum-a-sandi
2) https://kvf.fo/greinar/2026/07/23/her-hvlur-lj