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Virgin Mary with Child, St John and St Peter

Tabernacle in Via degli Alfani

has a large fine stone frame. The fresco represents Holy Mary with St John and St Peter, The Baby in Mary's lap is holding a little bird.

 

Tabernacles are a part of the art history of Florence and a testimony to the religious feeling of the town.

Tabernacles are little aediculae (shrines) — niches with sculptures, or windows with frescoes framed by columns a tiny roof or canopy. They can be seen on the corners of streets, or on house walls of a square, or just in a narrow street.

 

There were two reasons for creating tabernacles: to fight against the heretics and evil in general, and to resist the plague the plague. In both cases people felt the need to put holy images, mainly of the Virgin Mary, in the streets, over the doors, on the cross, to protect their houses and their families. These images where often had prayers written to the side of or under the holy imagine. Over the tabernacle, usually there is a lantern for a votive candle.

 

Florence, 2014

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Uploaded on March 11, 2019
Taken on March 14, 2014