Navarra
GREEN MEN OF LA OLIVA
Nearby places: Olite

 


Paradisical images at the entrance: (wo)man is harmony with nature

 Until a bishop (i.e. abbot) felt that it was not theologically right.....Thus he let cut a piece of this beautiful sculpture replacing it by his image i.e. authority. A warning not to "sin", i.e. deviate from the "right" path....

TYMPANUM
oliva-23.jpg (10537 bytes)

Green Man

In the beginning I didn't know what to do with this lower part of the tympanum. It is rather chaotic, indeed. Then I discovered the Green Men.  war alles ziemlich chaotisch. Dann entdeckte ich die Grünen Männer. Summarizing, we see here an image, which is quite rare....

Revealing Discovery
Note 10

Christ

It includes the spectrum of life, like it "should be". Christ is in the center. To follow him i.e. avoiding sin! means exercising Christian virtues, in practice meaning to work (hard)....Not doing this and you will slip down i.e. be overwhelmed by natural greed and lust. Symbolized by the Green Men at the end of the spectrum on both sides.....as warning.....

Green Men

Ditto

This I like very much in Spanish churches: the Madonna in the Center of the Choir.  It reflects spiritual Reality

Always this discrepancy: Warnings at the exterior; "pagan" images in the interior of the church

Kreuzgang

A woman (Great Mother) in the Cauldron of Abundance (Grail)

Jesus as Green Man?

Two unfortunately very neglected Green Men

My intuition told me, that in former days this monastery had a very open atmosphere. Through interference of the ecclesiastic authorities this stopped abruptly, though....

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 © 2000-2010 Copyright Han Marie Stiekema
Last revising: 12/31/09