The Last Footprints of Christ Cover Image
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The Last Footprints of Christ

Author(s): Ivanka Gergova
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Visual Arts, Theology and Religion
Published by: Институт за изследване на изкуствата, Българска академия на науките

Summary/Abstract: On the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem a church was erected in the 4th century at the place where Christ bid the last farewell to His disciples and ascended into heaven. The church is a rotunda – it was a martyrium where believers worshiped the footprints of Christ‘s steps. A very long tradition of pilgrimage descriptions of the site shows gradual transformations of both the temple and its layout, as well as the footprints themselves. At first, these footprints were depicted on sand, then on stone, and finally the two footprints were separated and one of them was taken to the Al-Aksa Mosque in Jerusalem. The veneration of the last footsteps of Christ had reflected the iconography of the Ascension of Christ in medieval Western European art, where it can be traced in the frescoes, chancel barriers, manuscripts, tapestries. In Byzantine art this motive is missing. In the 16th century, some Russian icons appeared, in which the footprints were marked on the Mount of Olives, in a way as described by the Russian pilgrim Daniel.

  • Issue Year: 2018
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 273-292
  • Page Count: 20
  • Language: English, Bulgarian