Today we took our Elders to Reykjavik for transfers. Elder DeCelle is now in Reykjavik with Elder Higgins and Elder Fillmore is now in Selfoss with Elder Teodoro the new Assistant to the President. As it is also Preparation Day we decided to take another tour of the National Museum. It is a fantastic museum and it is free on Wednesday. There is a new temporary exhibit on Early Christianity in Iceland and there are several permanent exhibits dealing with Christianity in Iceland. As I was listening to the explanation of the figure of Jesus (image to the right) I remembered when we toured the early cathedrals of Spain and Romania how it seemed the early artist - painters and sculptors - had a clearer understanding of the original plan of salvation than they do now. In Spain and in Romania the earliest paintings clearly showed the Godhead as three distinct individuals not as 3 in 1 as many have come to believe. Then today in this carving of Christ on the cross, Christ is depicted standing on both feet, with his head uplifted, crown on his head, eyes open. According to the museum these are features typical of the Romanesque style of crosses common until about 1200 AD (this one is dated from the 12 century). They then said the image changed with the Gothic crosses, where Christ is depicted wearing the martyr’s crown of thorns, hanging in a deathlike dejected pose with head bowed and one foot on top the other. To me the early sculptors saw Christ as triumphant as we know he was as he completed the work His Father gave him to do. He was not the downtrodden martyr as portrayed today. In another exhibit covering the time period of 1000 to 1200 AD we learned the only glass windows in Iceland were in Churches. They explained the glass represented Mary, God was represented by the sun and Christ was represented as the rays of light coming through the glass. While I have my thoughts on that I will leave the concept to your thoughts. Sorry about the quality of the image but I had to go on-line to find a picture on the Museum website, copy it out and then photograph is on my computer screen.
1 comment:
I totally remember that when we were in Spain and touring the different Cathedral and they had the painting of God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost all separate. It is so sad how beliefs have changed.
Post a Comment