BUILDING FOR ETERNITY
Medieval construction business is in full swing in the
foreground. Anonymous craftsmen, grey with stone dust, are hammering and
chiseling away on masonry segments. A kneeling sculptor is carefully carving a
statue, while others are preparing mortar to join decorative and structural
parts. On
the left, citizens carrying financial contributions climb the stairs of a
palace. On its balcony a king, assisted by his architect, oversees the
work with one hand pointing to heaven. In the middle ground, we see the purpose
of these efforts. Churchgoers, both wealthy citizens and poorly clad pilgrims
equipped with staff and rucksack, enter the portals of a Gothic cathedral
richly ornamented with prophets, biblical kings and saints. But work goes on,
for towers are still lacking. On the roof, a crane hoists up more building
material.
French painter and illuminator Jean Fouquet created this
miniature around 1465, closely following the cathedral architecture of his
hometown Tours. But it is not what it seems. The scene illustrates a manuscript
page of Jewish Antiquities, a history of the Jewish people. Written by Jewish
first century historian Flavius Josephus, it remained widely read by both
Christians and Jews since Roman times. Fouquet’s building site illustrates the
story of King Solomon constructing the Temple of Jerusalem, but his
contemporary architecture appropriates the ancient Temple in form and meaning.
According to Christian theology, Ecclesia or the Catholic Church had displaced
Synagoga or the Jewish Temple, and its construction was now considered a
metaphor for building the Spiritual or Heavenly Temple of the New Testament.
Like no other architectural style before or afterwards, Gothic cathedrals
represent this notion of reaching for heaven. Emphasizing verticality,
slenderness and light pouring in through stained glass windows, their sky-high
design aims at Salvation and eternal life as a return on investment. The
unfinished state of Fouquet’s structure expresses the ongoing character of this
process, both metaphorically and in practice. The construction of Tours
cathedral, for example, started in 1170 and continued at a leisurely pace until
1547.
(text: Jos Hanou)
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