Palmesel (Palm Donkey)
Type:
Sculptures
Date:
ca. 1055
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Switzerland
Dimensions:
135 × 176.5 cm
Description:
Palmesel is German for Palm donkey—a painted wooden statue of Jesus riding an ass attached to a wheeled platform. The sculpture recalls Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter. Beginning in the tenth century, these statues featured in Palm Sunday activities in German-speaking lands and in northern Italy. Jesus's decision to ride a lowly donkey en route to his Passion signaled his humility, while his classical-looking clothing emphasized his royalty. His right arm is raised in a gesture of blessing as he cradles a Gospel book in his left hand.
This is the earliest surviving Palmesel, from Steinen in Switzerland, probably made in the mid-eleventh century. Jesus is carved from a solid block of wood, whereas the donkey is made of multiple pieces and is hollow inside, making the sculpture easier to roll. The carver used spruce, fir, and beechwood, with the garments painted on linen over the wood core. The wheels and the donkey's legs date to a nineteenth-century restoration, suggesting that the statue was still in use at that time.
Palm Sunday rituals included the blessing of "palm" branches, which in central Europe were actually evergreens, and processions in which the local clergy met the movable Palmesel. As the sculpture and clergy returned to the church, people threw the branches in imitation of Christ's welcome to Jerusalem (Matt. 21:8–9). This theatrical reenactment of the biblical event inaugurated Holy Week, the most intense period of the Christian liturgical year.
This is the earliest surviving Palmesel, from Steinen in Switzerland, probably made in the mid-eleventh century. Jesus is carved from a solid block of wood, whereas the donkey is made of multiple pieces and is hollow inside, making the sculpture easier to roll. The carver used spruce, fir, and beechwood, with the garments painted on linen over the wood core. The wheels and the donkey's legs date to a nineteenth-century restoration, suggesting that the statue was still in use at that time.
Palm Sunday rituals included the blessing of "palm" branches, which in central Europe were actually evergreens, and processions in which the local clergy met the movable Palmesel. As the sculpture and clergy returned to the church, people threw the branches in imitation of Christ's welcome to Jerusalem (Matt. 21:8–9). This theatrical reenactment of the biblical event inaugurated Holy Week, the most intense period of the Christian liturgical year.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
6
Repository and Online Resources:
• The Palmesel is now in the Swiss National Museum (Landesmuseum), Zurich, inv. no. LM 362; read the museum's German description here.
Image Credits:
Linda Safran
