Loading...
Title: Enshrining the Sacred

Enshrining the Sacred

Microarchitecture in Ritual Spaces

by Ilia M. Rodov (Volume editor)
©2022 Edited Collection XXVI, 444 Pages
The Arts

Summary

This volume explores receptacles housing objects with divine or supernatural powers attributed to them. It offers pioneering comparative insights regarding the focal ritual structures in sacred places of world religions, including Catholic Sacrament houses and architectural altarpieces, Jewish Torah arks, Islamic mihrabs, Vietnamese household shrines, and Japanese butsudans. The publication elucidates artistic expressions, liturgical practices, and customary behaviors which distinguish abodes of divine or sacred contents. The chapters sound the voices of experts in religious architecture around the world and provide an encyclopedic scope of knowledge on the subject. Whereas each chapter focuses on a certain period, area, or tradition, the entire collection draws a comparative, cross-cultural, and multi- and interdisciplinary image of smaller-scale architectural objects of spiritual devotion.

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Advance Praise
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • About the editor
  • About the book
  • This eBook can be cited
  • Table of Contents
  • List of Figures
  • List of Tables
  • Preface and Acknowledgments
  • Chapter 1 Microarchitecture and Supernatural: An Introductory Survey (Ilia M. Rodov)
  • Chapter 2 Thresholds, Secrets and Revelations around the Shrines of German Gothic Sacrament Houses (Achim Timmermann)
  • Chapter 3 Shrines and Relics: Pathways to the Holy Land in the Dioceses of Astorga and Leon (4th to 12th Century) (Gerardo Boto Varela and José Alberto Moráis Morán)
  • Chapter 4 A Temple in a Temple: Medieval Tabernacles in the Iberian Peninsula (Aintzane Erkizia-Martikorena and Justin Kroesen)
  • Chapter 5 Object to Shrine: Architectural Articulation of the True Cross in the Medieval Mediterranean (Jelena Bogdanović)
  • Chapter 6 Micro-architecture: Housing the Miraculous Image in Italy, 1400–1550 (Paul Davies)
  • Chapter 7 Medieval Ashkenazi Torah Arks: Evidence, Architectonic Settings, and Reconstruction (Simon Paulus)
  • Chapter 8 The Synagogue Torah Ark as a “Lesser Temple” Within in a “Lesser Temple” (Jeffrey R. Woolf)
  • Chapter 9 The Holy Body and the Sacred Container: Semiotics of a Hebrew Legend (Vered Tohar)
  • Chapter 10 Christian Sacred Images in Jewish Homes in Early Modern Italy (Katherine Aron-Beller)
  • Chapter 11 Mary and Zechariah in Mosques: The Kullamā Verse on Early Ottoman Miḥrābs (Yumna Masarwa)
  • Chapter 12 Household Shrines in Vietnam (Heonik Kwon)
  • Chapter 13 The Life of Buddhist Altars for the Dead in Contemporary Japan (Hannah Gould)
  • Notes on Contributors
  • Index of Names
  • Index of Places

←vi | vii→

Figures1

Cover

Torah Ark, 1902. Great Synagogue, Vatra Dornei, Romania. Photograph: Teodor Raileanu and Ilia M. Rodov, 2007

Chapter 1

Fig. 1.1. Torah ark, mid-nineteenth century. Synagogue, Izabelin. Photograph: Szymon Zajczyk, before 1939. Warsaw, the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Photograph Archives, no. 189697

Fig. 1.2. Arm reliquary of Abbess Beatrix von Holte, ca. 1300. Essen, Cathedral Treasury. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Fig. 1.3. Vassily Maximov, “‘Red Corner’ (– icon corner) in a Russian Peasant House,” 1869. Saint Petersburg, The State Russian Museum. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Fig. 1.4. Animita, the road between La Serena and Ovalle, Chile. Photograph: Thomas M. Landy, 2014

Fig. 1.5. Zacharias in the Holy of Holies (a panel from the Saint John the Baptist retable), between 1464 and 1507, Aragon. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Public Domain

Fig. 1.6. “The Temple to Be Built Soon in Our Days,” Haggadah, Spain, probably Barcelona, fourteenth century. Sarajevo, The National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, fol. 32r. Photograph: Sarajevo, The National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina←vii | viii→

Fig. 1.7. “Ark of the Covenant,” Foa Bible, Catalonia, fourteenth century. Paris, Compagnie des Prêtres de Saint Sulpice, Ms 1933, fol. 7v (detail). Photograph: courtesy by Compagnie des Prêtres de Saint-Sulpice

Fig. 1.8. “Shape of the Ark,” Levi ben Gershon, Commentary on the Pentateuch, France, Avignon, 1429; London, British Library Ms Add. 14759, fol. 2v (detail). Photograph: © The British Library Board

Fig. 1.9. Carlo Crivelli, Saint Hieronymus (a panel from the Polyptych of Saints), 1473. Ascoli Piceno Cathedral. Photograph: Rome, Italian Ways

Fig. 1.10. Lorenzo Ghiberti (carvings) and Fra Angelico (paintings), Tabernacle of Arte de’Linaiuoli, ca. 1433. Florence, Museo di San Marco. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Fig. 1.11. The Torah ark from the Catalonian Synagogue, 1522/23, Rome, Museo Ebraico. Photograph: Courtesy Araldo de Luca

Fig. 1.12. Reconstruction of Torah ark of 1557–58 in the Isserls’s Synagogue in Cracow (Kazimierz). Drawing by Svetlana Sirota

Fig. 1.13. Torah ark, ca. 1300. Sopron, Synagogue at 22–24, Új Street. Photograph: Ilia M. Rodov, 2017

Fig. 1.14. Sacrament Tabernacle, fifteenth century. Marmagen, St Laurence Church. Photograph: Klaus Th. Erdmann, 2006; Photograph: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Fig. 1.15. Sacrament Tabernacle, fifteenth century. Wyhlen, St George Church. Photograph: Wladyslaw (Taxiarchos228), 2011; Photograph: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Fig. 1.16. North-Western portal, 1320–30. Erfurt, Blessed Virgin Mary Cathedral. Photograph: Ilia M. Rodov, 2017

Chapter 2

Fig. 2.1. Wolf Huber, Circumcision of Christ, 1521; Bregenz, Austria, Vorlarlberger Landesmusem Photograph: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain←viii | ix→

Fig. 2.2. Bruges or Gent master, Trivulzio Hours, showing the expositio sanctissimi before the altar and a sacrament house, ca. 1465; The Hague, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, SMC 1, fol. 76r. The Hague, Koninklijke Bibliotheek

Fig. 2.3. Eltville, Germany, Sts. Peter and Paul, sacrament niche, ca. 1360–70. Photograph: author

Fig. 2.4. Cologne, Cathedral, detail of choir clerestory, ca. 1300. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Fig. 2.5. Osnabrück, Germany, St John, sacrament house, ca. 1430–40. Photograph: author

Fig. 2.6. Rogier van der Weyden, Miraflores Triptych, detail of the central panel with the Pietà, 1445; Berlin, Gemäldegalerie. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Fig. 2.7. Nuremberg, St Sebaldus: sacrament house, 1370s. Photograph: author

Fig. 2.8. Corpus door, ca. 1460; Olomouc, Czechia, Archidiocesan Museum. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Fig. 2.9. Corpus door, ca. 1470–80; Cologne, Schnütgen-Museum. Photograph: author

Fig. 2.10. Marianka Pałecka, Poland, parish church, sacrament house, corpus door (verso side), ca. 1440. Photograph: author

Fig. 2.11. Alskog, Sweden, parish church, sacrament niche, ca. 1300. Photograph: Justin Kroesen

Fig. 2.12. Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany: Hospital Church, sacrament niche, ca. 1390–1400. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Fig. 2.13. Schwabach, Germany, St Martin, sacrament house, detail of the western face of corpus, ca. 1505. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Fig. 2.14. Heiltumsstuhl in Nuremberg, woodcut, 1487; various collections. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Fig. 2.15. Nördlingen, Germany, St George, sacrament house, detail of corpus wreath, 1511–15. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Fig. 2.16. Stefan Lochner, Last Judgment, detail of Heaven’s Gate, ca. 1435; Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum. Photograph: author

Fig. 2.17. Bauer im Wehrland, Germany, St Nicholas, sacrament niche, ca. 1500. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons←ix | x→

Fig. 2.18. Norden, Germany, St Ludgeri, sacrament house, detail showing interior of corpus, ca. 1480. Photograph: author

Fig. 2.19. Hohenstein, Germany, Holy Cross Church, sacrament house, 1490. Photograph: Bildarchiv Foto Marburg

Figs. 2.20–21. Linköping, Sweden, Cathedral, sacrament house, details of soldiers defending the host shrine, ca. 1480. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Fig. 2.22. French master, Fortalitium fidei, London, the Castle of Faith being defended against its attackers, ca. 1480–90; London, British Library, MS Royal F. VII., folio 129r. London, British Library

Fig. 2.23. Hieronymus Bosch or workshop, Tabletop of the Seven Deadly Sins, ca. 1500; Madrid, Prado Museum. Photograph: Photograph: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Chapter 3

Fig. 3.1 a–b. Holy Cross Chapel. San Pedro de Montes (Valle del Silencio. León). Photograph: authors

Fig. 3.2. León. Plan of the medieval city, with the former Roman setting and wall, and the Franco suburban neighborhood. Main way from the Holy Sepulcher church (5), to Santa María del Camino (4), San Martin (3), San Marcelo (2) and San Isidoro (1). Plan: © Armando Represa 1969, with modifications by the authors

Fig. 3.3. León. Plan of the medieval suburban neighbourhood of Holy Sepulcher, with the church and the hospital. Plan: © Armando Represa 1969, with modifications by the authors

Fig. 3.4. León. Santa Ana church, built over the former Holy Sepulcher church, ca. 1970. Creative Commons

Fig. 3.5 a–b. The portable altar-reliquary of the infanta-queen Sancha. 1144. © Museo de San Isidoro de León

Fig. 3.6 a–b. Reliquary box with stones and wooden fragments from the Holy Land. Sixth or seventh century. Sancta Sanctorum treasure. Photograph: © Rome, Vatican, Musei Vaticani

Fig. 3.7. San Isidoro de León, the Holy Cross altar and the Trinity Chapel, built by Canon Santo Martino, ground plan. © Ramón Cañas.←x | xi→

Fig. 3.8 a–b. San Isidoro de León, Trinity Chapel, 1191. Photograph: authors

Chapter 4

Fig. 4.1. Eucharistic dove, Limoges, thirteenth century, now in Barcelona, Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya. Photograph: © Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya

Fig. 4.2. Suspended turret hanging from the vault above the altar shown in the Leges Palatinae (Palace Laws) of King Jaume III of Mallorca, ca. 1337, now in Brussels, KBR, Ms. 9169, fol. 20v, detail. Photograph: © KBR

Fig. 4.3. Eucharistic casket, Catalonia, early fourteenth century, now in Vic (Catalonia), Museu Episcopal. Photograph: © Museu Episcopal de Vic

Fig. 4.4. ‘Sagrario’ with ornate doors, fifteenth century, integrated in a painted wall retable from ca. 1500, Calzadilla de los Barros (province of Badajoz), parish church. Photograph: Justin Kroesen

Fig. 4.5. Tabernacle doors from an unknown Andalusian church, fifteenth century, now in Madrid, Museo Arqueológico Nacional. Photograph: Justin Kroesen

Fig. 4.6. The fifteenth-century “sagrario” of Calzadilla de los Barros (province of Badajoz) with the doors opened, showing the interior decorated with tiles (“azulejos”). Photograph: Aintzane Erkizia-Martikorena

Fig. 4.7. Virgin-tabernacle “Nostra Dona de la Seu,” fourteenth century, Palma de Mallorca, Cathedral Photograph © Catedral de Mallorca

Fig. 4.8. Sacrament niche, ca. 1500, Armentia (Álava), Collegiate church. Photograph: Justin Kroesen

Fig. 4.9. Sacrament niche, early sixteenth century, Villanueva de Valdegovía (Álava), parish church. Photograph: Justin Kroesen

Fig. 4.10. Sacrament niche, fifteenth century, Valdeande (province of Burgos), parish church. Photograph: Justin Kroesen

Fig. 4.11. Painted tabernacle tower, first half of the fourteenth century, Codalet (Pyrénées-Orientales, France). Photograph © Dinh - Image Maker; CCRP, Département des Pyrénées-Orientales

Fig. 4.12. Painted panel showing the Presentation in the Temple with a “Sacrament tower” on the altar, ca. 1450, now in Vic (Catalonia), Museu Episcopal. Photograph © Museu Episcopal de Vic←xi | xii→

Fig. 4.13. Stone Sacrament tower from Soscaño (Bizkaia), early sixteenth century, now in Museo de las Encartaciones, Sopuerta. Photograph: Justin Kroesen

Fig. 4.14. Stone Sacrament tower from Santa Pia Monastery in Laminoria (Álava), now in Birgara Goien, Virgala Mayor, early sixteenth century. Photograph: Justin Kroesen and Regnerus Steensma

Fig. 4.15. Stone Sacrament tower, late fifteenth century, Castroceniza (province of Burgos). Photograph: Justin Kroesen

Fig. 4.16. Wooden Sacrament tower, 1510–20, Artziniega (Álava), Nuestra Señora de la Encina Photograph: Aintzane Erkizia-Martikorena

Fig. 4.17. Alabaster tabernacle, ca. 1425, Vic (Catalonia), Cathedral. Photograph: Justin Kroesen

Fig. 4.18. Wooden tabernacle, ca. 1440, Anento (province of Zaragoza), parish church Photograph: Justin Kroesen and Regnerus Steensma

Fig. 4.19. Wooden tabernacle, 1490–1503, Bolea (province of Huesca), Collegiate church. Photograph: Justin Kroesen

Fig. 4.20. Tabernacle in the high altarpiece, 1498–1503, Toledo, Cathedral. Photograph: Aintzane Erkizia-Martikorena

Fig. 4.21. High altar retable, 1434–80, with “expositor” in the upper zone, 1488, Zaragoza, Cathedral. Photograph: Justin Kroesen

Chapter 5

Fig. 5.1. Byzantine silver-gilt reliquary of the True Cross from Constantinople, tenth century, also known as the Limburg Staurotheke, currently in the Limburg an der Lahn; (1a) interior of the reliquary and (1b) the sliding lid. Photograph: Wikipedia Commons, Public Domain; commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38770341

Fig. 5.2. The Cross of Holy King Stefan Dečanski with the relics of the True Cross, Dečani Monastery, ca. fourteenth century and later, major parts, ca. seventeenth century. Photograph: Courtesy Dečani Monastery (Serbian Orthodox Church)

Fig. 5.3. The Cross of Tsar Dušan with the relics of the True Cross, Dečani Monastery, ca. fourteenth century and later, major parts, ca. seventeenth century. Photograph: Courtesy Dečani Monastery (Serbian Orthodox Church)←xii | xiii→

Fig. 5.4. The Holy Sepulcher complex, with the location of the Tomb of Christ and Golgotha as two fixed locations, Jerusalem, fourth century and later. Graphic reconstruction based on the 2016 investigation of the Edicule. Drawing: © National Geographic

Fig. 5.5. Church of Hagia Sophia, 532–37, Constantinople, modern Istanbul, Turkey; plan with the location for the veneration of the True cross in the northern aisle as mentioned by Adomnán. Photograph: Wikipedia Commons, Public Domain, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hagia-Sophia-Grundriss.jpg; outline added by the author

Fig. 5.6. Church of Hagia Sophia, 532–37, Constantinople, modern Istanbul, Turkey; the representation of the Cross within the veiled canopied installation shown on the western wall just below the gallery and above the central entrance. Photograph: author

Fig. 5.7. Church of Hagia Sophia, 532–37, Constantinople, modern Istanbul, Turkey; “Empress lodge.” Photograph: author

Fig. 5.8. San Marco, Venice, thirteenth century and later, interior; Il Capitelo canopied shrine is in the northern aisle of the church. Photograph: author

Fig. 5.9. Il Capitelo canopied shrine; San Marco, Venice, thirteenth century and later. Photograph: author

Fig. 5.10. The Crucifixion, western wall, The Church of the Mother of God, Studenica, Serbia, 1208/1209. Photograph: Vera Bukvić, Wikipedia Commons, Public Domain, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Manastir_Studenica_(1).jpg

Fig. 5.11. Canopied reliquary installation for the miraculous icon of the Mother of God and the relics of the True Cross, Church of Christ’s Ascension, Žiča monastery, Serbia, thirteenth to fourteenth century. Drawing: Debanjana Chatterjee (after Milka Čanak-Medić)

Fig. 5.12. Tympanum of northern entrance of the narthex with the Cross of Golgotha and inscription Jesus Christ, the King of Glory, Church of Pantokrator and Christ’s Ascension, Dečani monastery, fourteenth century. Photograph: Ljubomir Milanović←xiii | xiv→

Fig. 5.13. Canopied vaulted bay with the images of the Veneration of the Cross, Church of Pantokrator and Christ’s Ascension, Dečani monastery, fourteenth century. Photograph: Ljubomir Milanović

Fig. 5.14. Canopied vaulted bay, Church of Pantokrator and Christ’s Ascension, Dečani monastery, fourteenth century. Drawing: Debanjana Chatterjee (after Milka Čanak-Medić and Branislav Todić)

Fig. 5.15. Christ Pantokrator and the Ascension of the Lord, Dečani Monastery, fourteenth century, interior view towards the templon screen and sanctuary in the east, showing the Cross of Nestor to the north and the kibotos of Stefan Dečanski to the south. Photograph: AgronBeqiriPh, Wikipedia Commons, Public Domain, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File :8.Manastiri_i_De%C3%A7anit.JPG

Chapter 6

Fig. 6.1. The shrine of SS. Annunziata, 1448. Florence

Fig. 6.2. The shrine of S. Maria, 1517. Siena, Portico a Fontegiusta.

Fig. 6.3. The shrine of the miraculous cross of S. Giovanni Gualberto, 1448. Florence, S. Miniato

Fig. 6.4. The shrine of the Volto Santo, 1484. Lucca

Fig. 6.5. The miraculous image of SS. Annunziata, fourteenth century. Florence

Fig. 6.6. Canopy over St Paul’s tomb, 1285. Rome, S. Paolo fuori le Mura

Fig. 6.7. Shrine of the Holy crib (Capocci tabernacle), 1252. Formerly in S. Maria Maggiore, Rome

Fig. 6.8. Fifteenth-century woodcut from Storie e miracoli di S. Giovanni Gualberto, 1497, showing the shrine with the miraculous cross still in situ.

Fig. 6.9. Detail of the vault of the shrine of the miraculous cross of S. Giovanni Gualberto, 1448

Fig. 6.10. Vault of the Portinari chapel, Sant’Eustorgio, Milan, 1464–68

Fig. 6.11. The miraculous image of the Volto Santo, 1484. Lucca

Fig. 6.12. Church of S. S. Maria in Portico a Fontegiusta, 1479. Siena

Fig. 6.13. Entablature of the shrine of SS. Annunziata, 1448. Florence←xiv | xv→

Fig. 6.14. Pirro Ligorio, Drawing of an ancient Roman aedicule in Casa Porcari, Rome (Windsor RL 10797)

Fig. 6.15. Entablature of the shrine of the Volto Santo, 1484. Lucca

Fig. 6.16. The ceiling of the shrine of SS. Annunziata, 1448. Florence

Fig. 6.17. Composite capital of the shrine of SS. Annunziata, 1448. Florence

Fig. 6.18. Corinthian capital of the shrine of SS. Annunziata, 1448. Florence

Fig. 6.19. Shrine of the Virgin at Orsanmichele, 1352

Fig. 6.20. Shrine of the Madonna delle Carceri at Prato, 1512

Fig. 6.21. Veiled image of S. Maria in Portico a Fontegiusta, Siena in a nineteenth-century photograph.

Fig. 6.22. The shrine of S. Maria della Quercia, 1490. Viterbo

Fig. 6.23. S. Maria della Peste, 1494. Viterbo

Fig. 6.24. Fresco showing the interior of S. Giovanni Valdarno before the alterations of the late sixteenth century

Fig. 6.25. Shrine at S. Maria del Calcinaio, 1519. Cortona

Fig. 6.26. Shrine in S. Maria di Piratello, 1532. Imola

Fig. 6.27. Shrine at SS. Annunziata, 1527. Pontremoli

Fig. 6.28. Shrine of the Madonna dell’Impruneta, 1460s. Impruneta

Fig. 6.29. Twin shrines: (left) of the Madonna and (right) of the relic of the True Cross, 1460s. Impruneta

Fig. 6.30. Twin shrines: (left) of the Madonna of the Salus Populi Romani and (right) of Christ’s crib (after de Angelis, 1621). Rome, S. Maria Maggiore

Chapter 7

Fig. 7.1 Torah ark, Maḥzor, Germany, ca. 1300, Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Ms Fragm. S.P. II. 252 (detail). From Thérèse and Mendel Metzger, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages: Illuminated Hebrew Manuscripts of the Thirteenth to the Sixteenth Centuries (New York: Alpine Fine Arts Collection, 1982), p. 62 fig. 90

Fig. 7.2 Miltenberg (Franconia), Torah ark pediment, ca. 1300 (plaster cast). Photograph: Simon Paulus, 2018

Fig. 7.3 Nuremberg, Torah ark pediment, mid-fifteenth century. Photograph: Ilia M. Rodov, 2017←xv | xvi→

Fig. 7.4 Open Torah ark. Maḥzor, Ulm, 1459. Munich, Maḥzor, Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. Hebr. 3/1, fol. 48r. From Metzger, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages, p. 69, fig. 98

Fig. 7.5 Worms, remnant of a Gothic arch. Photograph: City archive Worms, Neg. M10017

Fig. 7.6 Albrecht Altdorfer, “Prayer Hall of the Synagogue in Regensburg before Its Destruction.” Engraving, 1519

Fig. 7.7 Ground plan and eastern wall elevation in the synagogue of Worms (left) and Regensburg (right). Drawing: Simon Paulus, 2021

Fig. 7.8 L. Digout, eastern wall of a former synagogue dated to the twelfth century in Metz (Lorraine). Lithograph, 1845, from Émile Auguste Begin, Metz depuis 18 siècles 3 (Paris and Metz: Verronais 1845), 141 fig. 69

Details

Pages
XXVI, 444
Publication Year
2022
ISBN (PDF)
9781433194337
ISBN (ePUB)
9781433194344
ISBN (Hardcover)
9781433189647
DOI
10.3726/b19228
Language
English
Publication date
2022 (August)
Keywords
Shrines microarchitecture ritual architecture Sacrament houses Tabernacles Torah arks mihrabs butsudan household altars
Published
New York, Berlin, Bruxelles, Lausanne, Oxford, 2022. XXVI, 444 pp., 158 color ill., 2 tables.
Product Safety
Peter Lang Group AG

Biographical notes

Ilia M. Rodov (Volume editor)

Ilia M. Rodov is Professor of Jewish Art at Bar-Ilan University. He edits Ars Judaica journal and co-edits the Jews, Judaism, and the Arts book series. His publications explore Jewish visual culture and synagogue art, focusing on the history, patronage, meanings, and perceptions of artifacts.

Previous

Title: Enshrining the Sacred