The Hildesheim Cathedral doors have panels with intricate carvings of scenes from the Bible. On one side of the panel it portrays the creation Adam and Eve, to the murder of Abel. On the other side of the door the panels portray scenes from the New Testament. It starts at the Annunciation and goes to the Noli me tangere. These two panels were paired together make the door a whole. All the events that are shown in the left panel which shows the Old Testament are countered by the right side panels by events that happened in the New Testament. There is not a huge difference in style or composition between the two panels, but I do see the panels show more, what you could call modernization once the New Testament scenes start to be depicted. But the meanings in each panel are related to each other.
The left side of the door has panel from the creation of Adam and Eve to Cain’s murder of his brother Abel. This panel is read from the top to bottom. The first scene is God creating Eve, and directly under it is God presenting Eve to Adam. It shows life in paradise, with no sin. There is not much background to the scene, because creation had just started. Houses and buildings had not been built yet. The scenes on the right side of the door complement the creation of Eve and God’s presentation of her to Adam. The right panel is read from bottom to top, so it is the last of the scenes on this door. But it signifies the promise for a return to paradise. The scene shows the three Marys outside of Jesus’ tomb, then the resurrection of Jesus and him getting called back to heaven. The panel on the right side show building in the background, also telling us that this is in later times then the first scene on the left panel.
The next two panels on the left side of the door depict the temptation and fall that Adam and Eve had, along with the accusation and judgment on them that took place. You can see Adam and Eve picking the forbidden fruit off the tree, and directly below that you can see God coming up to them, and Adam and Eve cowering down with guilt and shame. The scene on the right side of the door complements the fall and judgment with the event that took the sin of Adam and Eve and all who came after away. It shows the judgment that Jesus went through before Pilate, and his crucifixion.
The next scenes on the left panel are the punishment that Adam and Eve received. They are first kicked out of the garden, then they need to provide for themselves with their own labor. Now you start to see a few buildings in the background of the scene. The panel on the right of the door has the complementary act of the birth of Jesus, and the magi worshiping him. Adam and Eve were put into the world or work and labor, and Jesus was born into the world of work and labor. But Adam and Eve were banned from the Garden; Jesus was being presented to the temple.
In the last two scenes on the left side of the door are about Eve’s children. It first depicts the offerings that the brothers Cain and Abel made. Adel’s offering was better, and his brother Cain was jealous and murdered Abel. The right side of the door compliments the event from the left side of the door with Mary’s child. The nativity scene is directly across from the offerings of Eve’s children, and the annunciation, or the announcement from God’s angel the Mary was pregnant.
It’s obvious these panels are related to one another and are set up in a manner that shows Jesus as the one who saved and is the reason it is believed that all that went wrong in the beginning is forgiven. All that happen in the beginning, the original sin, is made new, and paradise is still offered.
I like your comparisons of the panels. I do wonder what story we would read from this without the written stories we have today. If I looked at these doors as if they were Egyptian hieroglyphs and were the only remnant of that civilization I wonder how I would interpret and translate that story. When describing you use specifics based from reading or being told what is written in a book that the story line depcts but without that book how would you know to call one set of figures adam and eve and another the 3 mary’s? Just sort of what occurred to me as I read your post?
ReplyDelete