Rediscovered Fresco reveals Islamic tents in the medieval Christian church

The 13th -century Fresco, rediscovered in Ferrala, Italy, provides unique evidence of using an Islamic tent to hide the high altar. 700 years ago Fresco is considered to be the only surviving image of this kind, providing valuable evidence of Christian practice that is not well known.

The partially attractive fresco specified by Dr. Federica Gigante, a historian of Cambridge University, is almost certainly a real tent that artists may have seen in the same church. The bright colored original tent, covered by jewelry, may have been a diplomatic gift from Muslim leaders and trophy seized from the battlefield.

Gigante’s research published today in Burlington is a famous person such as the Pope Innocent IV, which gave some valuable textiles to the S. Antonio Church of the Poresin monastery in Poresin in Ferrala. It also suggests. I gave such a tent.

“At first, it seemed incredibly exciting that this could be an Islamic tent,” said Gigante. “I just rejected the idea and returned to it a few years later with a brave attitude toward research. Probably we probably didn’t see it.”

Studies have suggested that Fresco uses Islamic tents in major Christian practice, including masses, to provide important evidence of medieval churches.

“The Islamic textile was associated with the pilgrim and the Crusader in a sacred place that brought back the most valuable Islamic textiles,” Gigante said. “They thought they had artistic continuity since the Christian era, so the use of Christian context was more than justified. Centralized European Christians fully recognize it. I praised Islamic art. “

It is well known that Islamic fabric exists in churches in the late Middle Ages, but it can be seen that surviving debris is usually wrapped in relics and important people. The description of Islamic fabrics survives in some Italian church walls and the late medieval Italian paintings. However, the image of Islamic tents from the Western Islamic world, such as Spain, is very rare, which may be the only detailed full -size depiction.

Fresco is drawn between the late 13th century and the early 14th century, indicating the canopy placed on the high altar. The artist has been wrapped in three walls and has been turned into a tent containing a blue and golden drape with a conical canopy covered with double -layered jewelry found throughout the Islamic world.

“Artists are making a lot of effort to make fibers look alive,” Gigante said.

The background is a blue sky covered with stars and birds, giving the impression of a tent built outdoors. In the early 15th century, Fresco was partially depicted in the scene of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ. After this, Fresco has attracted the attention of art historian overlooking the old fresco section. Gigante identified the description of Islamic textile when he visited the church ten years ago, but needed further research to prove that frescoes represent Islamic tents.

Altar -Description of genuine tents used as a cruten

Gigante claims that fresco paintings are drawn to Islamic tents that actually existed, and at the time of the 13th century, they were physically present in the monastery church and provide direct reference points to artists. I am.

It is already known that medieval churches are used permanently or during a specific liturgical period, using valuable fiber hanging. When studying frescoes, Gigante noticed that it was drawing a veil corner drawn in front of the altar. Therefore, Gigante believes that the real tent has been adapted to function as a “tetravala” and an altar cruten.

“If a real tent is built only in the church on a specific opportunity, a fresco may be useful as a visual reminiscent of its splendor when it is not in place,” Gigante said. “The interaction between the painted textile and the actual textiles is throughout Europe and Islamic worlds in the late Middle Ages.”

GIGANTE’s research has pointed out that the APSE wall is scattered with nails and parentheses, which may be useful as a structural support for hanging textiles.

Gigante points out the “very accurate details” of Fresco as further evidence of drawing an actual tent. The fabric displayed in the fresco has a round and chopped blue star motif, and the center is exactly the same as the golden fabric used in such valuable Islamic tents. It was chosen by the leaves. A band with a pseudo Arabic inscription runs along the ends of both the upper and lower boundaries. The textiles also have a white contour that emphasizes the contrasting colors that reflect the trends of the 13th century Andal Sylk design.

The structure, design, and color scheme of the tent is very similar to the number of left -handed portraits of the Andaltendent, including the 13th century manuscript, Cantigas Decanta Maria. They also belonging to the Canto Thomas Beckett, the bishop of Kanta Berry, a potential and potential and potential fragment of “Fermocasable”, which is “Fermocasable”. It also matches.

Gigante also compares jewelry drawn in frescoes with the unusual surviving jewelry fabric, the mantle of the Norman Roger II of Sicily, the Arab craftsman, the mantle (1095-1154). 。

War corruption

In the 13th century, it was common for banners and other wars to be displayed around the altar of European churches.

“The tent, especially the Tent of the Islamic Royal Family, was the most valuable gift in diplomatic exchange, the most prominent royal post in the campsite, and the most popular looted product on the battlefield,” Gigante said.

“The tent has entered Europe as a loot. It is common to pay the textile MERC soldiers during the anti -Islam expedition, the tent was the ultimate award.

A gift from the Pope?

From the 9th century, the Pope often donated Tetravala (altar -Kluten) to the church and the Pope’s record, and by 1255, the Pope’s Innocent IV was “the finest silk and gold in the S.S. Antonio monastery in Paul Pollen. It became clear that the curtain of fabric and gold fabric was sent.

“We can’t be convinced, but maybe famous people, such as the Pope Innocent IV, may have been given to the tent,” Gigante says.

The Andalusi tent taken from the ALMOHAD CALIPH MUHAMMAD AL-NāSir campsite was sent to Pope Innocent III later 1212.

Gigante is the possibility that this tent was part of a powerful esthetic gift for a powerful esthetics family, respectively, with the Pope and the sacred Roman Emperor, respectively. Suggests that there is. The monastery was established in 1249 by the Destus of Beatrice II.

“Many people don’t understand how Islamic culture has progressed and praised in the Middle Ages,” Gigante said.

Last year, Dr. Gigante has identified Verona Aborabe, an 11th -century Islamic Aboder Rabe, which has both Arabic and Hebrew inscriptions.

Federica Gigante is a Hanna Keal Fellow of ITATTI, a researcher at Cambridge University Faculty of History and a Harvard University Italian Nesswrite Research Center.