Stone Bible

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As Stone Bible figurative decorations are on the outside of some churches of Romanesque referred. It is believed to have been developed by French stonemasons around 1100. An example from around 1210 can be found on the east apse of the parish church Schöngrabern in Lower Austria.

This specifically high and late Romanesque art form corresponds in its purpose to the poor Bible from the Gothic period . With its richness of detail and the often bizarre figures, it represents a special contrast to the rather repellent walls of Romanesque architecture and the mystical darkness of its interiors.

The three-dimensional pictorial programs can be found predominantly on the portals and some capitals , on the corbels of some southern and western fronts, and occasionally on the eastern apse , i.e. the outer wall of the chancel. Architecture and sculpture are related to one another if they appear either ornamentally or according to biblical themes or times (especially the Old Testament and the history of creation ).

Sculptures on the apse by Schöngrabern

  • Apse Schöngrabern, southeast side

  • Detail: Adam and Eve

  • David fighting the lion

  • North side: partly inexplicable

The theological-pedagogical intent of the sequence of figures cannot be overlooked by the observer, but their dense symbolism is often difficult to interpret and inaccessible to us today. This applies in particular to regional, exotic or ancient-mythological ingredients (see picture above right), while the frequently occurring theme of Adam and Eve and the first victim and fratricide (middle picture) can still be clearly interpreted today.

Sculptures at the church of Vouvant

Similar, but also many non-biblical motifs can be found on the outer arches and capitals of the Romanesque church of Vouvant in western France:

  • Capitals under door archivolts

  • Detail capitals of the main portal

  • Large archivolt, detail, center

  • Large archivolt, detail of the front archivolt

Art, meditation and belief

The motivation for the Romanesque sculptors to create such elaborate decorations and stone Bibles is probably multiple: to counter the mystical interior spaces with artistically appealing exterior walls, to encourage the viewer to meditate and to set impulses for faith .

Sometimes signs of the zodiac are interwoven in the Bible cycles because astrology was not yet as frowned upon as it was later. Themes of hatred and war as well as mysterious creatures ( mythical creatures , dragon or snake-like beasts, etc.) as well as bizarre, even frightening faces were depicted. In combination with motifs of faith, they should point out to the viewer that everything that happens in the world begins and ends in God the Father.