Original scientific paper
Column-eating lions in the chapel at Medvedgrad: observation of a cult place in the cultural landscape of Zagreb
Sanja Bernard
; Zagreb, Hanamanova 16b,
Abstract
Keywords
Given that from its misty beginnings Medvedgrad has been divided in terms of construction, ownership and purpose between the most eminent ecclesiastical and secular rulers of that epoch, up to the moment when it was buried by the devastating earthquake at the end of the 16th century, it is as if its fate has tied it to the ground it stands on. This article is meant to be a modest contribution to the research of the cultural landscape through the often doubtful traces of legendary places and sanctuaries. Holy sites are not created nor ever fully conquered by men, but once discovered, they are permanently marked by them. By using the example of the column-eating lions in the apse of the late Romanesque-Gothic chapel at Medvedgrad, we tried to show how a motif or ornament can be a guideline or deception in the course of time periods and aspirations that shaped Medvedgrad. Taking particularly into account the time of the creation of the sculptures, as well as their precise and sophisticated creation, along with everything earlier stated from the expert point of view, we recall the heraldic meaning of the same motifs; the same motif can at the same time be examined in relations of biblical hermeneutics that educated donors of such structures could have been aware of. The lion received much space in iconographic art studies of Christianity and it is almost superfluous to repeat all visual interpretations of the bestiary; we therefore emphasize here the possibility of the meaning of the lion which actually the writers and speakers of the original language of the Holy Scripture gave to it. Items from the prehistoric hoard with jewellery from the area of Medvedgrad were, by their probability (according to statistics and analogies), placed there as sacrificial offerings, by which means this place receives a sign of a cult place. It is explained by related and in the prehistoric time widespread beliefs in divine mountains and rocks, as they also played their role in the very early beginnings of Christianity: the first divine revelations, offerings, devotions and alliances were held at selected locations in forbidden mountains; a vivid testimony about this with countless examples is provided by the Bible itself, starting with the book of Genesis. The Old Mediterranean worshipped also the Great Anatolian goddess who had a mountain and a pair of lions beneath her feet or throne: in her iconography, unchanged for thousands of years, the relation between the royal throne with (stone) lions and a mountain is permanently emphasized. This metaphor could also be used to describe the full circle of history of the fortress above Zagreb
Hrčak ID:
164156
URI
Publication date:
19.8.2013.
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