Peter Dinzelbacher, , Salzburg: Verlag Anton Pustet, 2014, 192 pp., 177 b/w ill., some in color.

Despite all the research done on medieval churches and their iconography, some important questions remain conspicuously unanswered. One of these concerns the meaning of the sculpted heads found in many churches around portals and windows, on capitals and consoles. Who and what do these enigmatic creatures represent, and how should their wider message be understood? This is the topic of a small but richly illustrated book written in German by the well-known Austrian historian of medieval mentality and religion, Peter Dinzelbacher. The point of departure, as is stated on the back cover, is the feeling of being observed by these head-shaped sculptures which often befalls us when we visit medieval churches. The author’s aim, stated on p. 7, is “to present and illustrate the symbolic medieval building sculpture in the city and region of Salzburg” (all translations by J.K.). Dinzelbacher points at the problem of the widely used term “mask” to describe such sculptures (although it is employed throughout the book, including in the title) as this suggests something that hides a person, whereas these representations rather seem to represent themselves. Instead, he proposes a French term borrowed from archaeology, “tête coupée” (severed head).