Ideja raja u Tundalovoj viziji
Paradise in The Vision of Tundale

Summary/Abstract: In the article the idea of paradise in medieval visions, with an emphasis on The Vision of Tundale, is discussed. In the introduction the genre of medieval visions is shortly surveyed and the role of The Vision of Tundale in European and Croatian literature is introduced. In the article it is also investigated how the concept of paradise was described and understood in theology and in folk culture. The problems associated with defining the proper terminology are analyzed too. Furthermore, the state of the body and the soul in heaven and in hell is discussed. Finally, the notion of paradise in the Middle Ages, which was primarily designed according to the concepts of garden and of the city, is examined. Although in The Vision of Tundale the representation of paradise is typical of the genre, hence it is portrayed as a place of delight and happiness, it is doubtlessly still distinguishable from the Christian notion of heaven; while heaven includes community with God as a permanent state, this is not the case with in Tundale’s idea of paradise. His paradise, therefore, can be considered as an earthly one.

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