St Alban with Head on Book – hand-carved wooden statue from South Tyrol

This wooden statue of St Alban shows a bishop with mitre and staff carrying a head on a book. It fits the corner of a room or the home altar corner of people who bear the name Alban or who appreciate the statue of a martyr.

This usually means Alban of Mainz. According to tradition he was a priest and martyr and was beheaded in Mainz around 406 during the Vandal invasion. According to legend he picked up his head and carried it to the place where he wanted to be buried; hence the head motif. His feast day in the Catholic Church is 21 June, and Mainz and farmers are regarded as places and groups under his patronage.

• Heights: 20, 30, 40, 60 and 80 cm
• Finishes: natural (finely sanded, untreated wood); multicolour stained: wax over three stain tones, in part with gold or silver accents on hems and details; hand-painted (oil paint, gold leaf and silver leaf decoration, fixed with lacquer)
• Origin: hand-carved in Val Gardena (South Tyrol)
• Material: wood from the Gardena Valley – mainly lime wood, depending on size also maple or Swiss stone pine

21 June falls in the middle of summer and is a lovely occasion to give an Alban a statue for his name day. It also suits friends of Mainz and its heritage, or as a greeting to someone who likes saints' legends.

Every statue is hand-carved in Val Gardena (South Tyrol), so the course of the grain differs from piece to piece. It takes approx. 4–5 weeks until your Alban is standing with you; shipping is insured via UPS from our warehouse in Flieden, to all delivery countries, and costs €6.90. Every piece is blessed by a Catholic priest in our warehouse in Flieden and comes with a certificate card (date of the blessing).