Islamic tents are revealed in medieval Christian churches

The 13th -century Fresco was re -discovered in Ferrara, Italy, providing unique evidence of medieval churches using Islamic tents to hide its high altars. The 700 -year -old Fresco is considered to be the only living image of its kind, offering precious evidence of a small known Christian practice.

Historian of Cambridge University, Dr. Partly visible Fresco, known by Federica Gigantte, almost certainly reflect a real tent, now lost, which the artist would have seen in the same church. The bright colored original tent, covered in jewelry, may be a diplomatic gift from a Muslim leader or a trophy seized from the battlefield.

Gigante’s research, published today The Burlington MagazineIt also states that a high-profile figure such as Pope Innocent IV-he gifted several precious clothes to the Benedictin Convent Church of S. Antonio in Policin, Ferrara, where Fresco was painted-such a tent.

“First, it seemed incredible and was very exciting that it could be an Islamic tent,” Dr. Gigante said. “I quickly dismissed the idea and went back with a bravver attitude only for more experience and research. We probably won’t get another living image. I have not stopped seeing but my guess is that it is it. It is quite unique that it is quite unique.

The study provides important evidence of a medieval church using Islamic tents in major Christian practices including Fresco mass.

“Islamic textiles were connected to the holy land from where pilgrims and cruckers brought back such precious Islamic garments,” Gigante said. “He thought that there was artistic continuity from Christ’s time, so his use in a Christian context was more than appropriately. Christians in medieval Europe praised Islamic art without fully realizing.”

While it is well known that Islamic textiles were present in late medieval European churches, survival pieces are usually found to be wrapped around the remains or in the burial of important people. Diction of Islamic textiles, some church walls in Italy, survives in the Italian paintings of late medieval times, in scars, in scars. But images of Islamic tents from the Western Islamic world, such as Spain, are extremely rare and can only be identified with detailed, full -sized illustration.

Fresco was depicted to represent the canopy placed on the high altar in the 13th and 14th centuries. The artist converted apps into a tent, including a blue and golden drapery wrapped around the three walls and topped the Islamic world by a double-tier beigeved conical canopy.

Gigantte said, “The artist tried hard to make Textile look like life.”

The background was a blue sky covered in stars and birds, reflecting the impression of a tent in the open. In the early 15th century, Fresco was partially depicted with the life scenes of Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ. The later Fresco has attracted the attention of art historians who have ignored the classes of old Fresco. Gigantte identified the portrayal of Islamic textiles when he visited the church ten years ago, but further researched to prove that Fresco represents an Islamic tent.

Ausan

Gigantte argues that an Islamic tent in Fresco is really existed and at some point in the 13th century, even the physical church may be physically present in the convent church, which is a for the artist Provides direct reference point.

It is already known that medieval churches used precious cloth hanging to see the altar either permanently, during mass or for specific literagical periods. And while studying Fresco, Gigante noticed that it reflects the corner of a veil, as if drawn in front of the altar. Therefore, Gigantte believes that the real tent was adapted to serve as’.Tetravelle ‘Altar-Pratas.

“If the real tent was built in the church only on a few occasions, Fresco could serve as a visual reminder of its splendor when it was not in place,” Gigante said. “Mutual activity between paint and real textiles can be found throughout Europe and the end of the Islamic world throughout the medieval period.”

Gigante’s study states that the walls of the apps are herbs with nails and brackets, and that they could serve as structural support for a hanging cloth.

Gigantte indicates Fresco’s ‘extraordinaryly accurate details’ as further evidence that it reflects a real tent. The fabric shown in Fresco has the facility of blue eight-pointed star motifs inscribed in the rounds, which was originally extracted in gold leaf, like the golden fabrics used for exactly such precious Islamic tents. A band with a pseudo-arbi inscription moves both on the edge of both the border up and down. The textile also has a white figure to emphasize opposite colors reflecting a trend in the 13th -century Andhunder silk design.

The structure, design and color scheme of the tent is closely resembled with some living illustrations of Andalusi tents including the 13th -century manuscript, Cantigus de Santa MariaThey match even one of the pieces of some potentially surviving Andalusi tent, ‘Firmo Chessubbal’, which is said to be of St. Thomas Backet, the archbishop of the canterbury.

Gigantte compared the jewels shown in Fresco with a rare living jeweled textile made by Arab craftsmen, which is the mental (1095–1154) of the Norman King Roger II of Sicily, which was embroidered with gold and pearls, Gemstone and Cloisinan were implemented with Enmail. ,

War loot

In the 13th century, Church in Europe for banners and other loot of war was common to be displayed around the altar altars.

“Tents, especially the Islamic Royal Tent, were one of the most prized gifts in the diplomatic exchanges, the most prominent royal insignia on the campsite and the most demanded demand on the battlefields on the battlefields,” Gigante said.

“Tent made its way into the form of loot in Europe. During anti -Muslim campaigns, garments were common and a tent was the last award. Fresco Shahi Islamic Tents match details of the tent that matches the wars of Christian expansion wars The 13th century was seized.

Gift from a pope?

From the 9th century, platforms are often donated Tetravel (Altar-Kartens) Churches and Pope’s records suggest that by 1255, the Pope Innocent IV had sent S Antonio’s convent in Policin to the ‘best silk and gold clothing drops’.

“We may not be sure, but it is possible that a high-profile person like Pope Innocent IV gifted to the tent,” says Gigante.

Almohd Khalifa was sent to the Pope Innocent III after 1212, an Andalusi Tent taken from the camp of Muhammad al-Nasir, which means that there was an Islamic tent in the Basilica of St. Peter before the painting of Fresco.

Gigantte suggests that the tent may also be part of a diplomatic gift given to the powerful Este family, which aligned between the Pope and the Guffles supporting the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor respectively. The convent was established in 1249 by Bitrice II D’Ste.

Gigante said, “Many people do not realize how extraordinaryly advanced and praise in Islamic culture was in medieval period.”

Last year, Dr. Gigantte identified Verona Astolbe, which affected both Arabic and Hebrew inscriptions by an eleventh -century Islamic Astrolbe.

Federica is a research associate of the history of the history of Gigante University of Cambridge and Hanna Kail Fellow at Harvard University Center, I Tatti for Italian Renaissance studies.