Apse mosaic at Germigny-des-Prés
Date:
ca. 806
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
France
Description:
Theodulf (ca. 750s–821) was a theologian, poet, abbot, bishop of Orléans, and prominent member of the court of Charlemagne. He accompanied the latter to Rome in 800 when the pope crowned the Frankish king as Roman emperor. It was probably in Rome where Theodulf got the idea to decorate his private chapel with mosaic, a medium rarely used north of the Alps.
The chapel's eastern apse conch depicts the Ark of the Covenant, the gold-covered chest protected by golden cherubim (a type of six-winged angel) described in several biblical books (e.g., Exod. 25:10–21). The chest contained the tablets of the Law given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai and, according to some sources, other sacred artifacts as well. After traveling with the Israelites, the Ark was eventually housed in the Holy of Holies, the most sacred part of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. It later disappeared, perhaps in the sixth century BCE, although Ethiopians believe it is still preserved in Aksum.
Theodulf may have selected this unique subject because he was responsible for crafting the Frankish response to the first wave of Byzantine iconoclasm in the so-called Caroline Books (Libri Carolini) or the Work of King Charles (Opus Caroli Regis), named for Charlemagne (Carolus Magnus in Latin). Although this work assails the worship of images, it is not opposed to images or to their use in Christian contexts. The apse at Germigny-des-Prés affirmed visually that images were acceptable in Christian worship because God himself had given instructions for their manufacture and permitted them to be housed in his Temple. In fact, the hand of God is represented in the center of the apse, pointing to the Ark. One of the two larger angels that frame the Ark, the one on the left, has a cross in its halo, which suggests that these large angels represent the Christian protectors of divine law.
Below the apse conch, the arcade filled with vegetal mosaics and the painted stucco reliefs below them (now lost) evoked the decoration of the walls of the Holy of Holies described in 1 Kings 6:29. As the Latin verse below the scene exhorts, "Behold the holy sanctuary with the cherubim, and see how the Ark of the Covenant of God glitters, and seeing this, strive through your prayers to touch the Holy Thunderer [God], and I ask you to remember Theodulf in your prayers." Despite some nineteenth-century restorations (especially on the lid of the Ark), the apse mosaic is essentially the one made for Theodulf about 806.
The chapel's eastern apse conch depicts the Ark of the Covenant, the gold-covered chest protected by golden cherubim (a type of six-winged angel) described in several biblical books (e.g., Exod. 25:10–21). The chest contained the tablets of the Law given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai and, according to some sources, other sacred artifacts as well. After traveling with the Israelites, the Ark was eventually housed in the Holy of Holies, the most sacred part of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. It later disappeared, perhaps in the sixth century BCE, although Ethiopians believe it is still preserved in Aksum.
Theodulf may have selected this unique subject because he was responsible for crafting the Frankish response to the first wave of Byzantine iconoclasm in the so-called Caroline Books (Libri Carolini) or the Work of King Charles (Opus Caroli Regis), named for Charlemagne (Carolus Magnus in Latin). Although this work assails the worship of images, it is not opposed to images or to their use in Christian contexts. The apse at Germigny-des-Prés affirmed visually that images were acceptable in Christian worship because God himself had given instructions for their manufacture and permitted them to be housed in his Temple. In fact, the hand of God is represented in the center of the apse, pointing to the Ark. One of the two larger angels that frame the Ark, the one on the left, has a cross in its halo, which suggests that these large angels represent the Christian protectors of divine law.
Below the apse conch, the arcade filled with vegetal mosaics and the painted stucco reliefs below them (now lost) evoked the decoration of the walls of the Holy of Holies described in 1 Kings 6:29. As the Latin verse below the scene exhorts, "Behold the holy sanctuary with the cherubim, and see how the Ark of the Covenant of God glitters, and seeing this, strive through your prayers to touch the Holy Thunderer [God], and I ask you to remember Theodulf in your prayers." Despite some nineteenth-century restorations (especially on the lid of the Ark), the apse mosaic is essentially the one made for Theodulf about 806.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
5
Image Credits:
Linda Safran, Wikimedia Commons
