Here are some of the wall paintings at the church of St. Georg. Obviously they are fairly faint now, but apparently they "shined" in their day according to the poet-biographer Purchart. These probably date from the rule of Abbot Witigowo in the 10th century. They illustrate the various miracles of Christ. This is the "largest connected cycle of monumental wall painting from the period around 1000 AD north of the Alps. The middle picture is what I believe is called a "rondell"? but I am not sure of whom it is. Most likely one of the apostles.
Finally, another painting - this one on the antechamber to the choir, and quite different in style, caught my eye - so I took a picture. I thought, "that is Medieval, but much later Medieval." Looked it up in a guidebook and found out it was from 1308. The words were hard to decipher because they were not Latin, but German - and medieval German AND with abreviated words.
Looked it up in another guide book and found that the painting turns out to be one with two women talking and four demons carrying a bear hide with an inscription (and another demon) on it. It is a moralizing (and somewhat sarcastic) poem about gossip:
"I want to write here/About these silly women/What is spoken bla bla here/A great deal during the week/It's probably righteous/If it's brought before the judge."
The Medieval German word for "bla bla" is "pla pla."
Thought everyone might enjoy it.
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P.S. Maybe our lady sacristan was a descendant of one of the Medieval "Pla Pla Ladies."
4 comments:
Nice pics.
Does the lack of contrast represent what it really looks like in person?
karl
Yes, remember these pics are over 1000 years old so they have faded considerably. Originally they would have been much brighter. (I think they were even whte washed over and only recovered in the 19th century.
I really hope you never compare any of your sopranos to "pla-pla ladies." :)
Are you kidding? I love my sopranos!
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