DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27365#0047
^4L7MP ^4P5F
35
Earlier works of Eastern Christian painting provide the source for this motif. In
three miniatures depicting churches in the Psalter of Queen Mciisendc^ the cupolas
coincide in all important respects with that in Akhtaia. In this case it is quite easy to
establish the original model. The miniaturist was working in Jerusalem in 1131-43 in
the scriptorium of the Holy Sepulchre and simply reproduced the cupola adorning the
Anastasis Shrine in the centre of the Church of the Resurrection. Probably the painter
of those miniatures himself daily worshipped thcrc^. His depiction of the church, we
should note, combined the cupola of the shrine with the stepped rotunda of the
Church of the Resurrection since in the 12th century the latter did not yet possess a
cupola itself. In so doing he created a composite image of the most revered site in all
of Christendom.
We can also detect this reminiscent combination of the elegant cupola with wide,
rotunda-shaped foundation in the depiction from Akhtaia^. Any lingering doubts that
it was actually the cupola of the Anastasis Shrine that the master of Akhtaia was
trying to reproduce are dispelled by referring to the early 12th-century text of the
"Pilgrimage" written by the Russian higumenos Daniel: "The covering over the cave is
made like unto a palace raised on pillars, while the upper covering is round and sealed
with gilded silver scales"^. This fully explains the imitation of metallic plates in the
depiction at Akhtaia.
The likening of the ciborium to the Holy Sepulchre has a deep symbolic
foundation. The shrine or "ciborium" over the place where Christ was buried and rose
from the dead is the prototype of all Christian ciborium: in the Christian East the altar
surmounted by its ciborium was interpreted as an image of the Holy Sepulchre. The
painter of the Akhtaia fresco thus not only demonstrated his erudition in so carefully
reproducing the architectural details of the church in Jerusalem but also emphasised
the special prototypic significance of the altar in the "Communion of the Apostles".
Moreover, it recalled in the form of an earthly church that church in celestial
Jerusalem where Christ and the apostles celebrated the liturgical mystery depicted
here.
This symbolic motif, noted in the Akhtaia fresco, appears with renewed vigour in
the "Communion of the Apostles" from the 14th-century church of the Mother of God
38 See H. Buchtat, Afart'atare Pamft'ng tn i7:e Lata; Patgdotn of Avara/em, Oxford, 1957, pi. 3, 4a, 5b,
pp. 139-140
39 For a detaited description of the Shrine of Holy Sepulchre and the Anastasis Church in the
llth-12th centuries, based on all extant sources, see H. Vincent, F-N. Abel, Aetaya/ea:, t. 2, Paris,
1914, pp. 260-266. Early images of the Shrine are to be found in B. Kuhnel, Prow t/;e PartMy to tAe
Lfeaveafy Arayatew, Freiburg, 1987.
49 A similar iconographic treatment, with the ciborium crowned by a rotund-based cupola, is found
in Russian carved icons portraying the Holy Sepulchre. See A.V. Ryndina, "fconographic Specificities of
Russian Miniature Sculpture: 'The Holy Sepulchre'", Drewtcra^Aoe t'jAa^tvo.' AAatfozAerts'eatraya AaFtara
Mwgorotfa (Early Russian Art. Novgorodian Artistic Culture), Moscow, 1968, pp. 223-236.
41 Paa;yat;aA*i Atcrataty Drewret Past. 37/ tvA* (Early Russian Literary Monuments. 12th Century),
Moscow, 1980, p. 34.
35
Earlier works of Eastern Christian painting provide the source for this motif. In
three miniatures depicting churches in the Psalter of Queen Mciisendc^ the cupolas
coincide in all important respects with that in Akhtaia. In this case it is quite easy to
establish the original model. The miniaturist was working in Jerusalem in 1131-43 in
the scriptorium of the Holy Sepulchre and simply reproduced the cupola adorning the
Anastasis Shrine in the centre of the Church of the Resurrection. Probably the painter
of those miniatures himself daily worshipped thcrc^. His depiction of the church, we
should note, combined the cupola of the shrine with the stepped rotunda of the
Church of the Resurrection since in the 12th century the latter did not yet possess a
cupola itself. In so doing he created a composite image of the most revered site in all
of Christendom.
We can also detect this reminiscent combination of the elegant cupola with wide,
rotunda-shaped foundation in the depiction from Akhtaia^. Any lingering doubts that
it was actually the cupola of the Anastasis Shrine that the master of Akhtaia was
trying to reproduce are dispelled by referring to the early 12th-century text of the
"Pilgrimage" written by the Russian higumenos Daniel: "The covering over the cave is
made like unto a palace raised on pillars, while the upper covering is round and sealed
with gilded silver scales"^. This fully explains the imitation of metallic plates in the
depiction at Akhtaia.
The likening of the ciborium to the Holy Sepulchre has a deep symbolic
foundation. The shrine or "ciborium" over the place where Christ was buried and rose
from the dead is the prototype of all Christian ciborium: in the Christian East the altar
surmounted by its ciborium was interpreted as an image of the Holy Sepulchre. The
painter of the Akhtaia fresco thus not only demonstrated his erudition in so carefully
reproducing the architectural details of the church in Jerusalem but also emphasised
the special prototypic significance of the altar in the "Communion of the Apostles".
Moreover, it recalled in the form of an earthly church that church in celestial
Jerusalem where Christ and the apostles celebrated the liturgical mystery depicted
here.
This symbolic motif, noted in the Akhtaia fresco, appears with renewed vigour in
the "Communion of the Apostles" from the 14th-century church of the Mother of God
38 See H. Buchtat, Afart'atare Pamft'ng tn i7:e Lata; Patgdotn of Avara/em, Oxford, 1957, pi. 3, 4a, 5b,
pp. 139-140
39 For a detaited description of the Shrine of Holy Sepulchre and the Anastasis Church in the
llth-12th centuries, based on all extant sources, see H. Vincent, F-N. Abel, Aetaya/ea:, t. 2, Paris,
1914, pp. 260-266. Early images of the Shrine are to be found in B. Kuhnel, Prow t/;e PartMy to tAe
Lfeaveafy Arayatew, Freiburg, 1987.
49 A similar iconographic treatment, with the ciborium crowned by a rotund-based cupola, is found
in Russian carved icons portraying the Holy Sepulchre. See A.V. Ryndina, "fconographic Specificities of
Russian Miniature Sculpture: 'The Holy Sepulchre'", Drewtcra^Aoe t'jAa^tvo.' AAatfozAerts'eatraya AaFtara
Mwgorotfa (Early Russian Art. Novgorodian Artistic Culture), Moscow, 1968, pp. 223-236.
41 Paa;yat;aA*i Atcrataty Drewret Past. 37/ tvA* (Early Russian Literary Monuments. 12th Century),
Moscow, 1980, p. 34.