Arca Santa

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The Arca Santa (" Holy Ark ") is a reliquary that contains a large number of relics that are of great importance in the Roman Catholic Church. The container itself is an important work of art from the Romanesque period .

Arca Santa

Safekeeping

The Arca Santa is kept and exhibited in the Cámara Santa , an outbuilding of the Cathedral of Oviedo in Spain . After the Cámera Santa was rebuilt after the bombing in the Asturian miners' strike in 1934 , the Arca Santa was erected there as an altar in the sanctuary .

Relics

The Arca Santa kept according to the instructions of an extensive inscription that frames the crucifixion scene on the lid, numerous highly important relics, including:

  • the Holy Shroud ( Santo Sudario ),
  • Thorns that should come from the crown of thorns of Christ ,
  • Splinters that should come from the Holy Cross ,
  • Fragments that are said to come from the tomb of Christ,
  • Parts that are said to come from the garment of Christ that the soldiers threw the dice for,
  • Parts that are said to come from a garment of Mary
  • a piece of bread supposed to come from the last supper ,
  • Milk that should come from Mary

all testimonies of God's Incarnation in Christ.

The shrine also contained relics of the apostles Simon Peter , Paul and Bartholomäus as well as prophets and martyrs .

history

Legends

According to legend, it was originally a box made of cedar wood, in which the relics of Jesus and Mary were kept. The Arca Santa is said to have been evacuated from Jerusalem by a presbyter Philip of Jerusalem to Alexandria in 614 after the Persians invaded Palestine , together with the relics . As the Persians advanced, the result was that the Arca Santa had already been brought to Spain via North Africa in 616. Isidore of Seville managed to take the shrine with him when he was appointed Bishop of Toledo (which he never was). The original Arca Santa was replaced by a new oak box in the first half of the eighth century. During the Muslim invasion at that time, she was hidden in the cave of Santo Toribio for 80 years . Finally, between 812 and 842, King Alfonso II of Asturias ordered it to be in his then capital, Oviedo.

King Alfonso VI from Asturias-León is said to have had a list of the relics kept in the box made and his daughter, Queen Urraca of León, is said to have donated the ornate sheet silver coating in 1113.

Facts

The Arca Santa is said to have been created around 1075 and was built by King Alfonso VI. Donated by Asturias-León and his sister Urraca von Zamora to the Cathedral of Oviedo. The source of this information is the - damaged - inscription on the Arca Santa , which names a "King Alfonso" and a message received elsewhere that King Alfonso VI. and his sister were present at a solemn presentation of the relics in 1075. If one mistrusts this construction, Alfonso VII can also be considered as the king named in the inscription, with which the Arca Santa dated to the first half of the 12th century.

The importance of the relics kept here was so great in the Middle Ages that , despite the difficulties of crossing the Cantabrian Mountains, pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago made the detour to get to Oviedo. But the relics that were kept were always the goal of veneration. The Arca Santa was just the container for it.

When the Cámera Santa was blown up during the Asturian miners' strike in 1934, the front of the Arca Santa was also damaged.

Art historical classification

The engraved silver plates on the lid show a crucifixion scene, above angels and below the thieves . The obverse shows the Last Judgment : Christ in a mandorla surrounded by four angels and the apostles in four groups of three . The pages show scenes from the life of Mary's parents and the first days of Jesus' life on the one hand and Ascension and the Apostles on the other . The representations are framed with bands of Kufic script that reproduce the text in Arabic . The drawing of the figures is close to Mozarab miniatures .

The Arca Santa unites different art movements of the 11th century, Byzantine , German and Mozarabic . These include relationships to the figures on the Bernward door of Hildesheim Cathedral and kufic tapes . The Arca Santa is stylistically safe to classify as northern Spanish or southern French. The shrine is also so “modern” that it anticipates “the completion of 12th century French sculpture”. This is also attached to the crossed legs of many of the figures.

literature

  • Dietrich Höllhuber and Werner Schäfke: The Spanish Way of St. James. History and art on the way to Santiago de Compostela . DuMont, [Cologne] 1999. ISBN 3-7701-4862-2
  • Pedro de Palol , Max Hirmer : Art of the early Middle Ages from the Visigoth Empire to the end of the Romanesque. Hirmer, Munich 1965, ISBN 3-7774-5730-2
  • Kingsley Porter: Romanesque Sculpture of the Pilgrimage Roads . 3 volumes. Hacker Arts Books, New York, reprinted 1969.
  • Werner Schäfke: Northwest Spain. Landscape, history and art on the way to Santiago de Compostela . DuMont, Cologne 1987. ISBN 3-7701-1589-9

Remarks

  1. ↑ See: List of the Archbishops of Toledo and Isidore of Seville .
  2. ↑ The assignment to King Alfonso II and to the 9th century is completely absurd (Pierre Tisné et al: Spain. Pictorial Atlas of Spanish Art . DuMont Schauberg, Cologne 1968. ISBN 3-7701-4461-9 , p. 230). In addition, the statement that the body is made of cedar wood is incorrect and is probably based on the legend about the first Arca Santa from Palestine.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Schäfke: Northwest Spain , p. 200.
  2. ↑ Höllhuber: The Spanish Way of St. James , p. 248; Schäfke: Northwest Spain , p. 200.
  3. ↑ Höllhuber: The Spanish Way of St. James , p. 248.
  4. ^ Palol: Spain , p. 66.
  5. ↑ Porter: Romanesque Sculpture , p. 35f, with reference to: Don Ciriaco Miguel Vigil: Asturias monumental, epigráfica y diplomatica . Hospicio Provincial, Oviedo 1887, p. 15.
  6. ^ Palol: Spain , p. 66.
  7. ↑ Höllhuber: The Spanish Way of St. James , p. 248.
  8. ^ Palol: Spain , p. 66.
  9. ↑ Höllhuber: The Spanish Way of St. James , p. 248.
  10. ^ Palol: Spain , p. 66.
  11. ^ Porter: Romanesque Sculpture , p. 36.
  12. ^ Porter: Romanesque Sculpture , p. 36.
  13. ^ Palol: Spain , p. 66.
  14. ^ Palol: Spain , p. 113.