This particular cross-slab, originally from Funshog in County Louth, is one of countless such objects that ended up in institutional collections over the centuries, removed from rural or ecclesiastical sites and brought to the capital for safekeeping, or study, or simply because someone thought it ought to be preserved.

Cross-slabs are among the most common survivals of early Christian Ireland, flat or roughly dressed stones incised with a cross, sometimes elaborately decorated, sometimes barely more than a scratched outline. They were used as grave markers, boundary stones, or devotional objects, and they appear in their thousands across the island, often clustered around the sites of early monasteries or parish churches. The one from Funshog, County Louth, is now held in the National Museum of Ireland, which has accumulated a significant collection of such stones from sites where they were considered vulnerable to damage or loss. Funshog itself is a small townland in Louth, a county with a dense concentration of early ecclesiastical remains, and it is reasonable to assume the slab was associated with a church or burial ground in that area, though the notes do not specify further detail.

The National Museum of Ireland has several sites across Dublin, and its collections of medieval stonework are distributed between them. Visitors interested in early Christian carved stones should check in advance which building and gallery currently displays this piece, as collections are periodically reorganised. The museum's main building on Kildare Street in Dublin's south city is generally the starting point for enquiries about archaeological material, and staff there can direct you to the relevant gallery or advise if the piece is in storage rather than on public display. Cross-slabs of this kind reward close attention; the carving is often subtle and wears differently depending on the light, so taking time to look at the stone from more than one angle is worthwhile.