Publication details
Germigny-des-Prés, il Santo Sepolcro e la Gerusalemme Celeste
| Title in English | Germigny-des-Prés, the Holy Sepulchre and the Heavenly Jerusalem |
|---|---|
| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2014 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Convivium |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | Digitální knihovna FF MU |
| Field | Art, architecture, cultural heritage |
| Keywords | Ark of the Covenant; the Holy Sepulchre; the sacrificial altar; Pharos; Theodulf; private devotion; St. Marco in Venice |
| Description | This article proposes an iconological reading of one of the most intensely examined monuments of the early Middle Ages, the palatine chapel of Germigny-des-Prés, commissioned by Theodulf, Bishop of Orléans (755–821). Until now, analysis of Germigny has concentrated mainly on its separate features. The present study, in contrast, treats Germigny as a whole, considering the interrelationship of its stuccos and mosaics with its architecture. Germigny has no apparent sources elsewhere and is understood to be the product of a local workshop. Taken together with its decorations, the building can be read as an evocation of Christ’s death and the Resurrection. This interpretation is based, first, on the configuration of the apse, which can be interpreted as an open and empty ark, and, as such, is a visual allusion to the empty sepulchre of Christ and an evocation of paradise. This notion leads, in turn, to the concept of a heavenly Holy Sepulchre. In this case, the relationship refers not to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, but to the church of Pharos, the palatine chapel of the Byzantine emperors and so-called "Holy Sepulchre" of Constantinople. This thesis appears supported by other, distant, Carolingian monuments, such as the basilica of San Marco and the palatine chapel of the doges in Venice. To this reading a further layer can be added by contemplating the visual similarity of the ark of the Germigny apse to the golden Carolingian reliquary altars. This visual overlap may allude not only to the ark as an ideal prefiguration of the reliquary, but also as an image of the sacrificial altar of Christ. |
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