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Aforementioned penis cakes and popcicles, some with yummy frosting oozing out. Go ahead, put one in your mouth; it's fun for all ages...
Hosts Anstey Nomads (red and white) and Dunkirk emerge from the dressing rooms at Cropston Road for an East Midlands Counties League fixture. Dunkirk won 10-1 and went on to secure promotion to the Midland Alliance.
This bubble is only about one inch in diameter - it floated past me when I had my camera in hand. I love the way the sun reflects across it's thin surface.
History of Kraków
First indications of the existence of Krakow approximately stem from the 7th century. In the next following centuries the tribe of Vistulans (Wislanie) populated Krakow, after they centuries ago in the as "Lesser Poland" or Malopolska known region had settled down. From the year 965 stems the first document from Krakow, as Abraham ben Jacob of Cordova, a Jewish merchant, in his book referred to the trading center of Krakow.
In 1000, the Diocese of Krakow was founded and in 1038 declared capital of the Piast dynasty. The Wawel castle and several churches were built in the 11th century and thus the town rapidly grew. 1241 the Mongols invaded the city and burned down Krakow without exception. 1138 Krakow became the seat of the senior prince. 1257 Kraków was awarded its town charter and a city map was drawn up, which remained until today. This one included the arrangement of the checkerboard street configuration with a centrally located market. On the market following the seat of the city government was built. From the historical trading functions until today only the Cloth Halls remained. But on the market not only trade agreements were closed but also courtly and urban festivities celebrated. Furthermore, the urban center served for executions. The defensive walls were built, which surrounded the city and linked it to the Wawel. In the south of Wawel Castle in 1335 the city of Kazimierz was created. By Royal command it was surrounded by defense walls and the churches of St. Catherine, of Corpus Christi and the "Na Skalce" were built. End of the 15th century, Jews settled the later Cracow district. 1364 the Cracow Academy of King Kazimierz Wielki was founded, the famous Polish Jagellonen-University.
With the last king of Jagellonian dynasty, Krakow flourished. The Wawel castle was rebuilt in Renaissance style, the well known Zygmunt chapel was built and the Cloth Halls as well as the patrician houses have been restored. During the reign of King Sigismund III. Vasa the baroque style received introduction in Krakow. The Baroque University Church of St. Anne and the Church of Saints Peter and Paul were built in this period. In 1607 Warsaw was declared headquarters of the King, but Krakow retained its title of the Royal capital. Furthermore, it remained the place of coronations and funerals. Middle of the 17th century, the city was devastated by the Swedes, what at the beginning of the 18th century was produced again.
After the first partition of Poland, Krakow became a frontier town. Austria declared the settlement Podgorze separated city. After the second division in 1794, began the Polish national uprising. After its decline and the third partition of Poland the town fell to the Austrians, which on Wawel Hill caused numerous devastations and adapted buildings to the wishes and needs of the Army. 1809 Cracow was affiliated to the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. After the defeat of Napoleon, Krakow in the Vienna Convention of 1815 was declared Free City of Kraków. Then the remains of folk hero Tadeusz Kosciuszko and of Prince Jozef Poniatowski were brought back to the city. 1820-1823 on the rise of St. Bronislava a hill in honor of the leader of the popular uprising was built. Instead of the city walls, which were largely destroyed, they laid out supporting beams. 1846 Krakow lost its independence and the Austrians erected again on the Wawel barracks and they surrounded the Wawel with fortification complexes. However, Austria but has proved less tyrannical and so the city enjoyed a certain degree of growing cultural and political freedom. 1918 Krakow became the independence back.
Before the outbreak of the Second World War, in Krakow lived about 260,000 inhabitants, of which 65,000 belonged to the Jewish religion. During the war, also Krakow became witness of German war crimes. The for the greater part Jewish district of Kazimierz was eradicated. The Jews from now on lived in ghettos where they either were deported from there to Auschwitz or immediately shot. In spite of the plundering of the Nazis, Krakow became no scene for military combat operations and thus the only large Polish town escaping this fate. Therefore, its old architecture still almost completely is intact.
After the surrender of Germany and the Polish liberation, hastened the Communist government to inspire the traditional life and the city with a large steel plant in Nowa Huta. But the intensive rebuilding of the economy and industry rather promoted an ecological disaster. Buildings that had survived the war undamaged were now devoured and destroyed by acid rain and toxic gases. Carbon dioxide emissions grew so powerful that this has remained a serious and grave problem of the city. After the fall of the Communists and the fall of the Iron Curtain Krakow has benefited greatly from tourism and has adapted itself to a large extent to the Western culture.
SICILY, Akragas. Silver. Didrachm. 8.66 g. Ca. 410 B.C.E.
AKPATA-N-[TI-NON}. Eagle left, wings spread, attacking coiled snake held in its talons; above, ETPA / Crab; above, vine leaf; below, fish to left - polyprium cernium.
Condition: Extremely fine.
Provenance:
Hess-Leu 1956, lot 65.
Agrigentum was the principal city of western Sicily, and had produced a regular coinage throughout the fifth century. During the last decade of her existence, before her destruction by the Carthaginians in 406 BC, her coinage was transformed with production of dies of a new quality and inventiveness, culminating in the outstanding dekadrachms. As elsewhere in Sicily, the highest standards were also maintained on the smaller denominations, such as this half-piece or didrachm.
The artists also varied the designs, corresponding to different denominations. Here on the didrachm, the eagle tears at a snake rather than a hare, while the reverse reverts to the design of a crab and a fish, which had been used rather earlier on tetradrachms. The types symbolize the position of Agrigentum between the sky and the sea, the former represented by the eagle of Zeus and the latter by marine produce.
The letters on the obverse give the name of the city and a personal name, Straton. The way that this is openly engraved on the die suggests that it is not an artist’s signature, since these were usually worked into or disguised in the design. It is more probably the name of the man who was responsible for the coin’s issue.
HUNT III, 22
(more pictures or information you can receive by going to the end of page!)
House of the Teutonic Order
The House of the Teutonic Order was as a Viennese commandry of the in 1198 in Acre founded Teutonic Order under Duke Leopold VI in the early years of the 13th Century built. The German Order was next to the Hospitallers and the Templars the third major order of knights of the Middle Ages. Duke Leopold gave him the large area between Stephansplatz, Churhausgasse, Singerstraße and blood alley (Blutgasse). Documentarily proven is the existence of the house from 1222. Here resided the Landkomtur (province commanders) of the Bailiwick of Austria, to which the commandries Vienna, Wiener Neustadt, Graz, Friesach and Groß-Sonntag (Krain) belonged. In the great fire of 1258 all the religious buildings except the church tower burned down. In the Middle Ages the complex of the German monastic house was limited to the area along the Singerstraße and Blutgasse. 1309 exchanged the Order part of the land that was needed for the extension of Stephen's cemetery against a neighboring area. The sprawling building had in its, the Stephansplatz adjacent part a large farm yard, which was surrounded by stables. Since 1526 the Head of the Order bore the title "Grand and German master (Hoch- und Deutschmeister)". The famous Viennese house regiment of the same name by the way in 1696 emerged from those Truppenkontigenten (contigent of troops) which the Order for the Turkish war had provided. After the first Turkish siege of Vienna, numerous residents of the suburbs whose houses had been burned were housed here. From 1667 the already dilapidated buildings were torn down with the exception of the church under the Landkomtur (province commander) Gottfried Freiherr von Lambert and provided by Carlo Canevale with three-storey new buildings. As plasterers Jacob Schlag and Simon Alio were mentioned. 1679/82 increased Canevale and Johann Bernhard Ceresola the complex.
Sala terrena. In the years 1720-1725 the German religious house under the Landkomtur Guidobald Starhemberg by Anton Erhard Martinelli was further extended and baroquised. In 1785 it received under Landkomtur Alois Graf Harrach by placing a fourth storey its present shape. In the 18th Century several fires caused major damages. Especially those of 1735 raged for three days, because the urban fighting personnel the entry was denied by the German Order of Knights. Among the prominent residents of the German religious house, which in the 18th and 19th century first also as a guest house of the Order served and then was largely rented, included Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1781), Johannes Brahms (1863 - 1865) and the comedy writer Cornelius Hermann Paul von Ayrenhoff. At the beginning of the 19th Century on Stephansplatz the German Order Cellar (Deutschordenskeller) was opened. Was in its place in the second half of the 20th Century the Restaurant "Deutsches Haus". Since 1809 the German religious house is the residence of the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order. Until then, this one resided in Mergentheim (Baden-Württemberg). From 1864 the Landkomtur Eugen Graf von Haugwitz the church by the cathedral architect from Gran, Josef Lippert, partially had re-gothicised. At that time at the gable above the church windows the already damaged pinnacles and figures were removed. Only the Grand Master coat of arms was left. 1929 the community of the German Teutonic Knights was transformed into a purely religious order. It is one of the very few religious institutions whose top management is not located in Rome. First Grand Master living in Vienna was Archduke Anton Viktor (1804 - 1835).
Church - interior. The House of the Teutonic Order is now a sprawling complex of buildings, grouped around two courtyards. The façade at the Blutgasse is the oldest. Those at the Singerstraße stems from the 17th Century. It represents today the face side of the building. The structuring of the façade by high Baroque inonic giant pilasters followed around 1720. The ground floor is grooved. The two early-Baroque round-arched portals are framed with Tuscan pilasters. The simple façades of the courtyards are held in the style of the 17th Century. On the west side of the pentagonal courtyard on the ground floor walled arched arcades as well as glazed Pawlatschen (access galleries) from the 19th Century on the first floor can be seen. In the courts were various, in 1903 discovered grave plates placed. The ground floor rooms are vaulted, early Baroque lunette barrels and groin vaults prevailing. Among them is the Sala terrene, a with a flat dome vaulted central room which is decorated with illusionistic wall paintings of the late 18th Century. The wall and ceiling frescoes depict mythological scenes and figural ornaments. The hall was once opened to the garden through a portal, but this was later reworked into a window. The tract between Stephansplatz and Blutgasse encloses two two-aisled halls. While the cross vault of the first ones is resting on sturdy pillars is those of the other ones supported by Tuscan columns. In the partially with Rococo and Neoclassical stucco ceilings provided rooms of the first floor are located the library and archives of the Order with documents and books dating back to the 12th Century. Some beautifully crafted wood cabinets were personally manufactured by the Grand and Deutschmeister Archduke Eugen. In the treasure chamber on the second floor are in addition to religious insignias and paintings, inter alia, parts of the Kunstkammer (Art chamber) of the Grand Master Archduke Maximilian III of Austria from the time about 1600 exposed.
Church - Empore. Attention getter and center of the tract at the Singerstraße are the three tall lancet windows of the church of the Teutonic Order. The first chapel already in 1258 fell victim to a town fire. From 1326 it was replaced by Jörg von Schiffering by a new building yet today the core of the Church of the Teutonic Order forming. At that time this one was still but free on three sides. In 1375 it was dedicated to St. Elizabeth. Guidobald Starhemberg 1720/22 the Chapel had remodelled in the Baroque style and flanked at both longitudinal sides by newly built religious houses, by which the three stained glass windows became the central projection of the House of the Teutonic Order. Presumably Anton Erhard Martinelli also was involved in the planning. The quite gothical appearing church facade is a beautiful example of the baroque tinge of the time after the Gothic period of 18th Century, unique in Austria. In the neo-Gothic restoration of 1864/68 the Baroque dome of the narrow and high tower was replaced by a pointed Gothic helmet. After the church was severely damaged in 1945 by bomb hits, followed its restoration 1946/47. Its vaults possess Gothic stucco decorations. In the Baroque reconstruction in the corners eight galleries were built-in, which are accessible from the apartments situated behind. The Dutch polyptych (1520) comes from Mechelen, but was until 1864 in the St. Mary's Church of Danzig. The altarpiece was created in 1667 by Tobias Pock. In the four corners of the room Evangelists Statues by Johann Hutter (1864) replace the missing sculptures by Giovanni Giuliani from the year 1721. On the walls hang several grave slabs, including an epitaph of the scholar Johannes Cuspinian (1515) and the by Jacob Schletterer created grave monument of the Landkomtur Josef Philipp Graf Harrach. Most of the more than eighty coats of arms of German knights, covering the upper part of the walls were designed by Johann Andreas Frank 1722.
Location / Address : 1010 Vienna, Singerstraße 7
Viewing: with the exception of the church and the museum allowed only outside
"The Romanesque heritage of Vall de Boí is exceptional due to the existence of a large number of churches of the same architectural style concentrated in such a small area. Until well into the last century the valley remained quite isolated, which prevented the arrival of builders, artists, architects or priests willing to make changes to the original works. Thanks to this fact, these churches have been preserved over time with only minor alterations, meaning that their original conception has hardly changed.
Vall de Boí’s Romanesque ensemble is made up of the churches of Sant Climent and Santa Maria in Taüll, Sant Joan in Boí, Santa Eulàlia in Erill la Vall, Sant Feliu in Barruera, La Nativitat in Durro, Santa Maria in Cardet, L’Assumpció in Cóll, and Sant Quirc Hermitage also in Durro.
One of the main characteristics of this ensemble is the common architectural style. The temples were all built during the 11th and 12th centuries, following a model imported from northern Italy, the Lombard Romanesque, characterised by its functional buildings, skilled stonework, thin bell-towers and the external decoration of rounded arcading and pilaster strips.
The Romanesque churches of Vall de Boí are the artistic reflection of a society which was structured around the hierarchies of feudalism and clergy, in this case personified in the Lords of Erill and the bishopric of Roda de Isábena, the promoters of these temples. In this medieval society, not only did the Church serve a religious function, but it also played an important social role as a place for people to meet and seek refuge. In the case of Vall de Boí, this social function of churches was further underlined by the use of the thin bell-towers as a means of communication and protection.
An important highlight are the murals that used to be located in the churches of Sant Climent and Santa Maria in Taüll and in Sant Joan in Boí, and which are currently kept at the National Museum of Catalan Art (MNAC) in Barcelona. Also worthy of mention are the carvings produced by the Erill’s Workshop, particularly the Descent in the church of Santa Eulàlia in Erill la Vall "
On the northern side of the Estuary, heading back towards Curracloe.
The Raven Nature Reserve / Tearmann Dúlra Rámhann
Curracloe, Co. Wexford
Location: Situated 8km north-east of Wexford town.
Area (ha.): 589
This reserve started its existence as a long narrow sand spit, sheltering the entrance to Wexford Harbour. In the mid-1880's the creation of the adjacent North Slob for agricultural purposes land locked the sand spit on its western side. The site is now part of a major sand dune system, which is largely stable except for the lagoons and sand bar at its southern tip.
Established 1983. State owned.
Animals and Plants of Interest: Internationally important for birds. 35% of the worlds population of Greenland and White-fronted Geese spend winter in this area. They feed by day on the Wexford Wildfowl Reserve and return each evening to roost in the relative safety of the sand bar, on the southern tip of the Raven. Large numbers of waders roost here throughout the year. Little Terns nest on the shell sandy beaches and Crossbills are occasionally seen in the woods.
The dunes are rich in wild flowers, including several rarities, such as the sub species of Round-leaved Wintergreen, which is found only in Ireland on the site.
Access: Access to the Raven Nature Reserve is from the main Gorey road (R741) out of Wexford over the River Slaney Bridge, 3.4 km (2.1 miles) north of the bridge turn for Curracloe which is signposted. In Curracloe village, turn right opposite the Post Office and after 0.9 km (0.6 miles) take the first right turn. The entrance to the Nature Reserve, which is open at all times throughout the year, is on the right after 1.8 km (0.8 miles).
Facilities include a small picnic area at the main entrance, seating positioned through the Reserve and a public hide situated 1.9 km (1.2 miles) from the entrance down the main track. The hide, located on the right hand side of the track, provides views of the geese feeding in winter on the North Slob and other bird activity at other times of year.
(Information courtesy of: National Parks and Wildlife Services - www.npws.ie/naturereserves/wexford/)
The Bouleuterion is one of the best preserved buildings in the whole of the ancient city. Strabo refers to the existence of a Gerontikon or Senate House at Nysa, bt this must be a predecessor to the present building. The bouleuterion is situated in the eastern half of the site and is reached from the Theatre, by means of the path that runs past the Market Basilica and the row of Shops, while to the east lies the Agora. The Bouleuterion has a square exterior plan, measuring 23,44 X 27,24 metres, but has a semicircular shape inside, forming a banked auditorium or cavea of 12 rows of seats, divided into four segments by five stairways. Its frontage comprises an open vestibule, but the building's thick walls indicate that the main body of the Bouleuterion was roofed. On the north side of the building is a vaulted gallery, containing four elliptical columns, set about 5 metres apart. On the south side are five doorways providing entrances to the building, while side passages (paradoi) give access to the orchestra. The floor of the orchestra is paved with marble opus sectile, arranged in a star pattern comprising square an octagonal slabs and surrounded by other rectangular panels. This floor had earlier been exposed to the elements and, in order to preserve it from further damage, the area was covered up in 1995. It is estimated that the Bouleuterion had a capacity of about 600-800. The south vestibule is decorated with a polychrome mosaic of geometric design. A pool was added to this part of the building at a late date in its history, together with a row of statue bases. Architectural fragments found in the Bouleuterion date it to the 1st century AD, but it is clear from other decorative elements and an inscription referring to the empresses Faustina the Elder the Younger that it also underwent alterations in the middle of the 2nd century AD.
Nysa ad Meander antik kentinin en iyi korunmuş yapılarından birisi Buleuterion'dur. Strabon, bu yapıyı Gerontikon (Yaşlılar Meclisi) olarak tanımlamıştır. Bouleuterion, antik kentin doğu kesiminde, tiyatronun güneydoğusundaki Pazar Bazilikası ve Dükkanlar geçildikten sonra gelinen bir alanda yer almaktadır. Yapının doğusunda kentin Agorası bulunmaktadır. Bouleuterion dikdörtgen planlı olarak inşa edilmiş olup, iç kısmında yarım daire şeklindeki Cavea (Theatron) kısmı yer almaktadır. Bouleterion'un 23,40 X 27,24 m. ölçüsündeki bu dikdörtgen şekilli esas yapısının önünde ise üstü açık olan bir ön salon kısmı bulunmaktadır. Yapının oturma sıraları 12 adettir ve bunlar 5 merdiven sırası ile 4 bölüme ayrılmıştır. Bouleuterion'un kalın duvarları yapının üstünün örtülü olduğuna işaret etmektedir. Yapının kuzey kısmında kemerli bir galeri bulunmaktadır ve burada yaklaşık 5 m. aralıklarla yerleştirilmiş olan 4 adet eliptik sütun vardır. Yapıya güneydeki 5 adet kapıdan girilmektedir. Ayıca, orkestraya girişte, yanlarda da paradoslar bulunmaktadır. Nysa'daki bu Bouleuterion'un orkestra kısmında ortada, orijinalinde eşkenar dörtgen ışıklı sekizgen göbekli bir yıldız motifinin oluşturduğu opus sectile taban kaplamasını düzgün dikdörtgen mermer plakalar çevrelemektedir. Doğanın tahribatına açık olan bu mermer kaplamalar Nysa'da 1995 yılında yapılan kazı ve onarım çalışmaları sırasında üstü örtülerek koruma altına alınmıştır. Nysa Bouleuterion'unun yaklaşık 600 ile 800 kişiyi alabilecek kapasitede olduğu anlaşılmaktadır. Yapının güneyindeki salonun döşemesinin çeşitli renklerdeki geometrik motiflerle süslü bir mozaikle kaplı olduğu görülmektedir. Yapıya geç bir tarihte eklendiği düşünülen güneydeki bu kısımda bir havuz ile bir dizi halinde sıralanmış olan çeşitli heykel kaidelerinin bulunduğu görülmektedir.
Bouleuterion'da MS 1. yüzyıla tarihlenebilen mimari parçalar bulunmaktadır. Ayrıca MS 2. yüzyıla ait olan mimari süslemeler ile bir yazıtta imparatoriçe genç ve yaşlı Faustina'lara değinilmesi de yapının Roma İmparatorluk devrinde Antoninler döneminde (MS 2. yüzyılın ortası) bir değişiklik gördüğüne işaret etmektedir.
Bouleuterion'da ilk kez 1907 ve 1909 yıllarında W.von Diest başkanlığında sürdürülen çalışmalar, yapı hakkında genel bilgilere ulaşmak için sondaj şeklinde gerçekleştirilmiştir. Yapıda geniş kapsamlı kazı çalışmalarını 1921 ve 1922 yıllarında Yunanlı Arkeolog K. Kouriniotis gerçekleştirmiştir. Bu çalışmalar Kurtuluş Savaşı sırasında çok hızlı bir şekilde sürdürülmüş, koilon (cavea) ile scaenae frons tamamen kazılarak ortaya çıkarılmıştır. Ancak yapı tam anlamıyla araştırılıp yayını yapılmamıştır. B çalışmalarda ortaya çıkan toprak ve moloz yapının güneydoğusundaki alanda biriktirilmiştir. 1960'lı yıllarda zamanla toprakla dolan Bouleuterion'da İzmir Arkeoloji Müzesi Müdürlüğü'nce tekrar kazılara başlanmıştır. Ancak bu çalışmaların da sonuçları yayınlanmamıştır.
1990 yılından itibaren Prof. Dr. Vedat İDİL başkanlığında yürütülen kazılarda ise, 1997 yılında kısa süreli olarak Bouleuterion'un orkestrasında, 1998 ve 2002 yıllarında yapının kuzeyinde ve güneybatı köşesinde birer açma gerçekleştirilmiş, 2006 yılından itibaren Bouleuterion'un güney girişinin önündeki stoaların tespitine, Bouleuterion'un Agora ile arasındaki caddeye (Cardo Maximum) çıkışına ve sırtını Doğu Stoa'ya veren "Cardo Maximus" üzerindeki dükkanlara odaklanılmıştır.
Son yıllarda yapılan yeni tespitlere göre, Bouleuterion'un güneydeki beş ayrı çıkışı, doğu, batı, kuzey ve güney stoaları çevrelenmiş bir alana bağlanmakta, bu alanı çevreleyen doğu stoanın içindeki bir koridor ile de Bouleuterion - Agora bağlantısını sağlayacak şekilde Cardo Maxsimus'a çıkıldığı anlaşılmıştır.
Kaynak:
1- Nysa ve Akharaka - Prof.Dr. Vedat İdil, Yaşar Eğitim ve Kültür Vakfı Yayını, İstanbul 1999
2- 2003, 2004, 2005 ve 2006 Yılları Nysa Kazı ve Restorasyon Çalışmaları Raporları
Here, paths of meaning cross—
between what is chosen and what is inevitable.
A moment where time hesitates,
and identity is briefly undone.
Ojai Olive Oil, Inc. is a family owned and operated business that came into existence 11 years ago. Our farm is located in Southern California’s Ojai Valley that lies straight north of the coastal town of Ventura – 80 miles north of Los Angeles and 35 miles south of Santa Barbara. The Asquith Farm is located on the southern edge of the Los Padres National Forest. We are surrounded by dramatic natural beauty and share our land with numerous forms of wildlife that roam the hills and mountains
In monotheism, God is conceived of as the Supreme Being and principal object of faith.[3] The concept of God as described by most theologians includes the attributes of omniscience (infinite knowledge), omnipotence (unlimited power), omnipresence (present everywhere), divine simplicity, and as having an eternal and necessary existence. Many theologians also describe God as being omnibenevolent (perfectly good), and all loving.
God is most often held to be non-corporeal,[3] and to be without any human biological sex,[4][5] yet the concept of God actively creating the universe (as opposed to passively)[6] has caused many religions to describe God using masculine terminology, using such terms as "Him" or "Father". Furthermore, some religions (such as Judaism) attribute only a purely grammatical "gender" to God.[7]
In theism, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe, while in deism, God is the creator, but not the sustainer, of the universe. In pantheism, God is the universe itself. In atheism, God is not believed to exist, while God is deemed unknown or unknowable within the context of agnosticism. God has also been conceived as being incorporeal (immaterial), a personal being, the source of all moral obligation, and the "greatest conceivable existent".[3] Many notable philosophers have developed arguments for and against the existence of God.[8]
There are many names for God, and different names are attached to different cultural ideas about God's identity and attributes. In the ancient Egyptian era of Atenism, possibly the earliest recorded monotheistic religion, this deity was called Aten,[9] premised on being the one "true" Supreme Being and Creator of the Universe.[10] In the Hebrew Bible and Judaism, "He Who Is", "I Am that I Am", and the tetragrammaton YHWH (Hebrew: יהוה, which means: "I am who I am"; "He Who Exists") are used as names of God, while Yahweh and Jehovah are sometimes used in Christianity as vocalizations of YHWH. In the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, God, consubstantial in three persons, is called the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Judaism, it is common to refer to God by the titular names Elohim or Adonai, the latter of which is believed by some scholars to descend from the Egyptian Aten.[11][12][13][14][15] In Islam, the name Allah, "Al-El", or "Al-Elah" ("the God") is used, while Muslims also have a multitude of titular names for God. In Hinduism, Brahman is often considered a monistic deity.[16] Other religions have names for God, for instance, Baha in the Bahá'í Faith,[17] Waheguru in Sikhism,[18] and Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism.[19]
The many different conceptions of God, and competing claims as to God's characteristics, aims, and actions, have led to the development of ideas of omnitheism, pandeism,[20][21] or a perennial philosophy, which postulates that there is one underlying theological truth, of which all religions express a partial understanding, and as to which "the devout in the various great world religions are in fact worshipping that one God, but through different, overlapping concepts or mental images of Him."[22]
Contents [hide]
1Etymology and usage
2General conceptions
2.1Oneness
2.2Theism, deism and pantheism
2.3Other concepts
3Non-theistic views
3.1Agnosticism and atheism
3.2Anthropomorphism
4Existence
5Specific attributes
5.1Names
5.2Gender
5.3Relationship with creation
6Depiction
6.1Zoroastrianism
6.2Islam
6.3Judaism
6.4Christianity
7Theological approaches
8Distribution of belief
9See also
9.1In specific religions
10References
11Further reading
12External links
Etymology and usage
The Mesha Stele bears the earliest known reference (840 BCE) to the Israelite God Yahweh.
Main article: God (word)
The earliest written form of the Germanic word God (always, in this usage, capitalized[23]) comes from the 6th-century Christian Codex Argenteus. The English word itself is derived from the Proto-Germanic * ǥuđan. The reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form * ǵhu-tó-m was likely based on the root * ǵhau(ə)-, which meant either "to call" or "to invoke".[24] The Germanic words for God were originally neuter—applying to both genders—but during the process of the Christianization of the Germanic peoples from their indigenous Germanic paganism, the words became a masculine syntactic form.[25]
The word 'Allah' in Arabic calligraphy
In the English language, the capitalized form of God continues to represent a distinction between monotheistic "God" and "gods" in polytheism.[26][27] The English word God and its counterparts in other languages are normally used for any and all conceptions and, in spite of significant differences between religions, the term remains an English translation common to all. The same holds for Hebrew El, but in Judaism, God is also given a proper name, the tetragrammaton YHWH, in origin possibly the name of an Edomite or Midianite deity, Yahweh. In many translations of the Bible, when the word LORD is in all capitals, it signifies that the word represents the tetragrammaton.[28]
Allāh (Arabic: الله) is the Arabic term with no plural used by Muslims and Arabic speaking Christians and Jews meaning "The God" (with a capital G), while "ʾilāh" (Arabic: إله) is the term used for a deity or a god in general.[29][30][31] God may also be given a proper name in monotheistic currents of Hinduism which emphasize the personal nature of God, with early references to his name as Krishna-Vasudeva in Bhagavata or later Vishnu and Hari.[32]
Ahura Mazda is the name for God used in Zoroastrianism. "Mazda", or rather the Avestan stem-form Mazdā-, nominative Mazdå, reflects Proto-Iranian *Mazdāh (female). It is generally taken to be the proper name of the spirit, and like its Sanskrit cognate medhā, means "intelligence" or "wisdom". Both the Avestan and Sanskrit words reflect Proto-Indo-Iranian *mazdhā-, from Proto-Indo-European mn̩sdʰeh1, literally meaning "placing (dʰeh1) one's mind (*mn̩-s)", hence "wise".[33]
Waheguru (Punjabi: vāhigurū) is a term most often used in Sikhism to refer to God. It means "Wonderful Teacher" in the Punjabi language. Vāhi (a Middle Persian borrowing) means "wonderful" and guru (Sanskrit: guru) is a term denoting "teacher". Waheguru is also described by some as an experience of ecstasy which is beyond all descriptions. The most common usage of the word "Waheguru" is in the greeting Sikhs use with each other:
Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh
Wonderful Lord's Khalsa, Victory is to the Wonderful Lord.
Baha, the "greatest" name for God in the Baha'i faith, is Arabic for "All-Glorious".
General conceptions
Main article: Conceptions of God
There is no clear consensus on the nature or even the existence of God.[34] The Abrahamic conceptions of God include the monotheistic definition of God in Judaism, the trinitarian view of Christians, and the Islamic concept of God. The dharmic religions differ in their view of the divine: views of God in Hinduism vary by region, sect, and caste, ranging from monotheistic to polytheistic. Divinity was recognized by the historical Buddha, particularly Śakra and Brahma. However, other sentient beings, including gods, can at best only play a supportive role in one's personal path to salvation. Conceptions of God in the latter developments of the Mahayana tradition give a more prominent place to notions of the divine.[citation needed]
Oneness
Main articles: Monotheism and Henotheism
The Trinity is the belief that God is composed of The Father, The Son (embodied metaphysically in the physical realm by Jesus), and The Holy Spirit.
Monotheists hold that there is only one god, and may claim that the one true god is worshiped in different religions under different names. The view that all theists actually worship the same god, whether they know it or not, is especially emphasized in Hinduism[35] and Sikhism.[36] In Christianity, the doctrine of the Trinity describes God as one God in three persons. The Trinity comprises The Father, The Son (embodied metaphysically by Jesus), and The Holy Spirit.[37] Islam's most fundamental concept is tawhid (meaning "oneness" or "uniqueness"). God is described in the Quran as: "Say: He is Allah, the One and Only; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him."[38][39] Muslims repudiate the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus, comparing it to polytheism. In Islam, God is beyond all comprehension or equal and does not resemble any of his creations in any way. Thus, Muslims are not iconodules, and are not expected to visualize God.[40]
Henotheism is the belief and worship of a single god while accepting the existence or possible existence of other deities.[41]
Theism, deism and pantheism
Main articles: Theism, Deism, and Pantheism
Theism generally holds that God exists realistically, objectively, and independently of human thought; that God created and sustains everything; that God is omnipotent and eternal; and that God is personal and interacting with the universe through, for example, religious experience and the prayers of humans.[42] Theism holds that God is both transcendent and immanent; thus, God is simultaneously infinite and in some way present in the affairs of the world.[43] Not all theists subscribe to all of these propositions, but each usually subscribes to some of them (see, by way of comparison, family resemblance).[42] Catholic theology holds that God is infinitely simple and is not involuntarily subject to time. Most theists hold that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent, although this belief raises questions about God's responsibility for evil and suffering in the world. Some theists ascribe to God a self-conscious or purposeful limiting of omnipotence, omniscience, or benevolence. Open Theism, by contrast, asserts that, due to the nature of time, God's omniscience does not mean the deity can predict the future. Theism is sometimes used to refer in general to any belief in a god or gods, i.e., monotheism or polytheism.[44][45]
"God blessing the seventh day", a watercolor painting depicting God, by William Blake (1757 – 1827)
Deism holds that God is wholly transcendent: God exists, but does not intervene in the world beyond what was necessary to create it.[43] In this view, God is not anthropomorphic, and neither answers prayers nor produces miracles. Common in Deism is a belief that God has no interest in humanity and may not even be aware of humanity. Pandeism and Panendeism, respectively, combine Deism with the Pantheistic or Panentheistic beliefs.[21][46][47] Pandeism is proposed to explain as to Deism why God would create a universe and then abandon it,[48] and as to Pantheism, the origin and purpose of the universe.[48][49]
Pantheism holds that God is the universe and the universe is God, whereas Panentheism holds that God contains, but is not identical to, the Universe.[50] It is also the view of the Liberal Catholic Church; Theosophy; some views of Hinduism except Vaishnavism, which believes in panentheism; Sikhism; some divisions of Neopaganism and Taoism, along with many varying denominations and individuals within denominations. Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, paints a pantheistic/panentheistic view of God—which has wide acceptance in Hasidic Judaism, particularly from their founder The Baal Shem Tov—but only as an addition to the Jewish view of a personal god, not in the original pantheistic sense that denies or limits persona to God.[citation needed]
Other concepts
Dystheism, which is related to theodicy, is a form of theism which holds that God is either not wholly good or is fully malevolent as a consequence of the problem of evil. One such example comes from Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, in which Ivan Karamazov rejects God on the grounds that he allows children to suffer.[51]
In modern times, some more abstract concepts have been developed, such as process theology and open theism. The contemporaneous French philosopher Michel Henry has however proposed a phenomenological approach and definition of God as phenomenological essence of Life.[52]
God has also been conceived as being incorporeal (immaterial), a personal being, the source of all moral obligation, and the "greatest conceivable existent".[3] These attributes were all supported to varying degrees by the early Jewish, Christian and Muslim theologian philosophers, including Maimonides,[53] Augustine of Hippo,[53] and Al-Ghazali,[8] respectively.
Non-theistic views
See also: Evolutionary origin of religions and Evolutionary psychology of religion
Non-theist views about God also vary. Some non-theists avoid the concept of God, whilst accepting that it is significant to many; other non-theists understand God as a symbol of human values and aspirations. The nineteenth-century English atheist Charles Bradlaugh declared that he refused to say "There is no God", because "the word 'God' is to me a sound conveying no clear or distinct affirmation";[54] he said more specifically that he disbelieved in the Christian god. Stephen Jay Gould proposed an approach dividing the world of philosophy into what he called "non-overlapping magisteria" (NOMA). In this view, questions of the supernatural, such as those relating to the existence and nature of God, are non-empirical and are the proper domain of theology. The methods of science should then be used to answer any empirical question about the natural world, and theology should be used to answer questions about ultimate meaning and moral value. In this view, the perceived lack of any empirical footprint from the magisterium of the supernatural onto natural events makes science the sole player in the natural world.[55]
Another view, advanced by Richard Dawkins, is that the existence of God is an empirical question, on the grounds that "a universe with a god would be a completely different kind of universe from one without, and it would be a scientific difference."[56] Carl Sagan argued that the doctrine of a Creator of the Universe was difficult to prove or disprove and that the only conceivable scientific discovery that could disprove the existence of a Creator (not necessarily a God) would be the discovery that the universe is infinitely old.[57]
Stephen Hawking and co-author Leonard Mlodinow state in their book, The Grand Design, that it is reasonable to ask who or what created the universe, but if the answer is God, then the question has merely been deflected to that of who created God. Both authors claim however, that it is possible to answer these questions purely within the realm of science, and without invoking any divine beings.[58] Neuroscientist Michael Nikoletseas has proposed that questions of the existence of God are no different from questions of natural sciences. Following a biological comparative approach, he concludes that it is highly probable that God exists, and, although not visible, it is possible that we know some of his attributes.[59]
Agnosticism and atheism
Agnosticism is the view that, the truth values of certain claims – especially metaphysical and religious claims such as whether God, the divine or the supernatural exist – are unknown and perhaps unknowable.[60][61][62]
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities, or a God.[63][64] In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities.[65]
Anthropomorphism
Main article: Anthropomorphism
Pascal Boyer argues that while there is a wide array of supernatural concepts found around the world, in general, supernatural beings tend to behave much like people. The construction of gods and spirits like persons is one of the best known traits of religion. He cites examples from Greek mythology, which is, in his opinion, more like a modern soap opera than other religious systems.[66] Bertrand du Castel and Timothy Jurgensen demonstrate through formalization that Boyer's explanatory model matches physics' epistemology in positing not directly observable entities as intermediaries.[67] Anthropologist Stewart Guthrie contends that people project human features onto non-human aspects of the world because it makes those aspects more familiar. Sigmund Freud also suggested that god concepts are projections of one's father.[68]
Likewise, Émile Durkheim was one of the earliest to suggest that gods represent an extension of human social life to include supernatural beings. In line with this reasoning, psychologist Matt Rossano contends that when humans began living in larger groups, they may have created gods as a means of enforcing morality. In small groups, morality can be enforced by social forces such as gossip or reputation. However, it is much harder to enforce morality using social forces in much larger groups. Rossano indicates that by including ever-watchful gods and spirits, humans discovered an effective strategy for restraining selfishness and building more cooperative groups.[69]
Existence
Main article: Existence of God
St. Thomas Aquinas summed up five main arguments as proofs for God's existence.
Isaac Newton saw the existence of a Creator necessary in the movement of astronomical objects.
Arguments about the existence of God typically include empirical, deductive, and inductive types. Different views include that: "God does not exist" (strong atheism); "God almost certainly does not exist" (de facto atheism); "no one knows whether God exists" (agnosticism[70]);"God exists, but this cannot be proven or disproven" (de facto theism); and that "God exists and this can be proven" (strong theism).[55]
Countless arguments have been proposed to prove the existence of God.[71] Some of the most notable arguments are the Five Ways of Aquinas, the Argument from Desire proposed by C.S. Lewis, and the Ontological Argument formulated both by St. Anselm and René Descartes.[72]
St. Anselm's approach was to define God as, "that than which nothing greater can be conceived". Famed pantheist philosopher Baruch Spinoza would later carry this idea to its extreme: "By God I understand a being absolutely infinite, i.e., a substance consisting of infinite attributes, of which each one expresses an eternal and infinite essence." For Spinoza, the whole of the natural universe is made of one substance, God, or its equivalent, Nature.[73] His proof for the existence of God was a variation of the Ontological argument.[74]
Scientist Isaac Newton saw God as the masterful creator whose existence could not be denied in the face of the grandeur of all creation.[75] Nevertheless, he rejected polymath Leibniz' thesis that God would necessarily make a perfect world which requires no intervention from the creator. In Query 31 of the Opticks, Newton simultaneously made an argument from design and for the necessity of intervention:
For while comets move in very eccentric orbs in all manner of positions, blind fate could never make all the planets move one and the same way in orbs concentric, some inconsiderable irregularities excepted which may have arisen from the mutual actions of comets and planets on one another, and which will be apt to increase, till this system wants a reformation.[76]
St. Thomas believed that the existence of God is self-evident in itself, but not to us. "Therefore I say that this proposition, "God exists", of itself is self-evident, for the predicate is the same as the subject.... Now because we do not know the essence of God, the proposition is not self-evident to us; but needs to be demonstrated by things that are more known to us, though less known in their nature—namely, by effects."[77] St. Thomas believed that the existence of God can be demonstrated. Briefly in the Summa theologiae and more extensively in the Summa contra Gentiles, he considered in great detail five arguments for the existence of God, widely known as the quinque viae (Five Ways).
For the original text of the five proofs, see quinque viae
Motion: Some things undoubtedly move, though cannot cause their own motion. Since there can be no infinite chain of causes of motion, there must be a First Mover not moved by anything else, and this is what everyone understands by God.
Causation: As in the case of motion, nothing can cause itself, and an infinite chain of causation is impossible, so there must be a First Cause, called God.
Existence of necessary and the unnecessary: Our experience includes things certainly existing but apparently unnecessary. Not everything can be unnecessary, for then once there was nothing and there would still be nothing. Therefore, we are compelled to suppose something that exists necessarily, having this necessity only from itself; in fact itself the cause for other things to exist.
Gradation: If we can notice a gradation in things in the sense that some things are more hot, good, etc., there must be a superlative that is the truest and noblest thing, and so most fully existing. This then, we call God (Note: Thomas does not ascribe actual qualities to God Himself).
Ordered tendencies of nature: A direction of actions to an end is noticed in all bodies following natural laws. Anything without awareness tends to a goal under the guidance of one who is aware. This we call God (Note that even when we guide objects, in Thomas's view, the source of all our knowledge comes from God as well).[78]
Alister McGrath, a formerly atheistic scientist and theologian who has been highly critical of Richard Dawkins' version of atheism
Some theologians, such as the scientist and theologian A.E. McGrath, argue that the existence of God is not a question that can be answered using the scientific method.[79][80] Agnostic Stephen Jay Gould argues that science and religion are not in conflict and do not overlap.[81]
Some findings in the fields of cosmology, evolutionary biology and neuroscience are interpreted by some atheists (including Lawrence M. Krauss and Sam Harris) as evidence that God is an imaginary entity only, with no basis in reality.[82][83][84] These atheists claim that a single, omniscient God who is imagined to have created the universe and is particularly attentive to the lives of humans has been imagined, embellished and promulgated in a trans-generational manner.[85] Richard Dawkins interprets such findings not only as a lack of evidence for the material existence of such a God, but as extensive evidence to the contrary.[55] However, his views are opposed by some theologians and scientists including Alister McGrath, who argues that existence of God is compatible with science.[86]
Neuroscientist Michael Nikoletseas has proposed that questions of the existence of God are no different from questions of natural sciences. Following a biological comparative approach, he concludes that it is highly probable that God exists, and, although not visible, it is possible that we know some of his attributes.[59]
Specific attributes
Different religious traditions assign differing (though often similar) attributes and characteristics to God, including expansive powers and abilities, psychological characteristics, gender characteristics, and preferred nomenclature. The assignment of these attributes often differs according to the conceptions of God in the culture from which they arise. For example, attributes of God in Christianity, attributes of God in Islam, and the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy in Judaism share certain similarities arising from their common roots.
Names
Main article: Names of God
99 names of Allah, in Chinese Sini (script)
The word God is "one of the most complex and difficult in the English language." In the Judeo-Christian tradition, "the Bible has been the principal source of the conceptions of God". That the Bible "includes many different images, concepts, and ways of thinking about" God has resulted in perpetual "disagreements about how God is to be conceived and understood".[87]
Throughout the Hebrew and Christian Bibles there are many names for God. One of them is Elohim. Another one is El Shaddai, meaning "God Almighty".[88] A third notable name is El Elyon, which means "The Most High God".[89]
God is described and referred in the Quran and hadith by certain names or attributes, the most common being Al-Rahman, meaning "Most Compassionate" and Al-Rahim, meaning "Most Merciful" (See Names of God in Islam).[90]
Supreme soul
The Brahma Kumaris use the term "Supreme Soul" to refer to God. They see God as incorporeal and eternal, and regard him as a point of living light like human souls, but without a physical body, as he does not enter the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. God is seen as the perfect and constant embodiment of all virtues, powers and values and that He is the unconditionally loving Father of all souls, irrespective of their religion, gender, or culture.[91]
Vaishnavism, a tradition in Hinduism, has list of titles and names of Krishna.
Gender
Main article: Gender of God
The gender of God may be viewed as either a literal or an allegorical aspect of a deity who, in classical western philosophy, transcends bodily form.[92][93] Polytheistic religions commonly attribute to each of the gods a gender, allowing each to interact with any of the others, and perhaps with humans, sexually. In most monotheistic religions, God has no counterpart with which to relate sexually. Thus, in classical western philosophy the gender of this one-and-only deity is most likely to be an analogical statement of how humans and God address, and relate to, each other. Namely, God is seen as begetter of the world and revelation which corresponds to the active (as opposed to the receptive) role in sexual intercourse.[6]
Biblical sources usually refer to God using male words, except Genesis 1:26-27,[94][95] Psalm 123:2-3, and Luke 15:8-10 (female); Hosea 11:3-4, Deuteronomy 32:18, Isaiah 66:13, Isaiah 49:15, Isaiah 42:14, Psalm 131:2 (a mother); Deuteronomy 32:11-12 (a mother eagle); and Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:34 (a mother hen).
Relationship with creation
See also: Creator deity, Prayer, and Worship
And Elohim Created Adam by William Blake, c.1795
Prayer plays a significant role among many believers. Muslims believe that the purpose of existence is to worship God.[96][97] He is viewed as a personal God and there are no intermediaries, such as clergy, to contact God. Prayer often also includes supplication and asking forgiveness. God is often believed to be forgiving. For example, a hadith states God would replace a sinless people with one who sinned but still asked repentance.[98] Christian theologian Alister McGrath writes that there are good reasons to suggest that a "personal god" is integral to the Christian outlook, but that one has to understand it is an analogy. "To say that God is like a person is to affirm the divine ability and willingness to relate to others. This does not imply that God is human, or located at a specific point in the universe."[99]
Adherents of different religions generally disagree as to how to best worship God and what is God's plan for mankind, if there is one. There are different approaches to reconciling the contradictory claims of monotheistic religions. One view is taken by exclusivists, who believe they are the chosen people or have exclusive access to absolute truth, generally through revelation or encounter with the Divine, which adherents of other religions do not. Another view is religious pluralism. A pluralist typically believes that his religion is the right one, but does not deny the partial truth of other religions. An example of a pluralist view in Christianity is supersessionism, i.e., the belief that one's religion is the fulfillment of previous religions. A third approach is relativistic inclusivism, where everybody is seen as equally right; an example being universalism: the doctrine that salvation is eventually available for everyone. A fourth approach is syncretism, mixing different elements from different religions. An example of syncretism is the New Age movement.
Jews and Christians believe that humans are created in the likeness of God, and are the center, crown and key to God's creation, stewards for God, supreme over everything else God had made (Gen 1:26); for this reason, humans are in Christianity called the "Children of God".[100]
Depiction
God is defined as incorporeal,[3] and invisible from direct sight, and thus cannot be portrayed in a literal visual image.
The respective principles of religions may or may not permit them to use images (which are entirely symbolic) to represent God in art or in worship .
Zoroastrianism
Ahura Mazda (depiction is on the right, with high crown) presents Ardashir I (left) with the ring of kingship. (Relief at Naqsh-e Rustam, 3rd century CE)
During the early Parthian Empire, Ahura Mazda was visually represented for worship. This practice ended during the beginning of the Sassanid empire. Zoroastrian iconoclasm, which can be traced to the end of the Parthian period and the beginning of the Sassanid, eventually put an end to the use of all images of Ahura Mazda in worship. However, Ahura Mazda continued to be symbolized by a dignified male figure, standing or on horseback which is found in Sassanian investiture.[101]
Islam
Further information: God in Islam
Muslims believe that God (Allah) is beyond all comprehension or equal and does not resemble any of His creations in any way. Thus, Muslims are not iconodules, are not expected to visualize God.[40]
Judaism
At least some Jews do not use any image for God, since God is the unimageable Being who cannot be represented in material forms.[102] In some samples of Jewish Art, however, sometimes God, or at least His Intervention, is indicated by a Hand Of God symbol, which represents the bath Kol (literally "daughter of a voice") or Voice of God;[103] this use of the Hand Of God is carried over to Christian Art.
Christianity
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Early Christians believed that the words of the Gospel of John 1:18: "No man has seen God at any time" and numerous other statements were meant to apply not only to God, but to all attempts at the depiction of God.[104]
Use of the symbolic Hand of God in the Ascension from the Drogo Sacramentary, c. 850
However, later on the Hand of God symbol is found several times in the only ancient synagogue with a large surviving decorative scheme, the Dura Europos Synagogue of the mid-3rd century, and was probably adopted into Early Christian art from Jewish art. It was common in Late Antique art in both East and West, and remained the main way of symbolizing the actions or approval of God the Father in the West until about the end of the Romanesque period. It also represents the bath Kol (literally "daughter of a voice") or voice of God,[103] just like in Jewish Art.
In situations, such as the Baptism of Christ, where a specific representation of God the Father was indicated, the Hand of God was used, with increasing freedom from the Carolingian period until the end of the Romanesque. This motif now, since the discovery of the 3rd century Dura Europos synagogue, seems to have been borrowed from Jewish art, and is found in Christian art almost from its beginnings.
The use of religious images in general continued to increase up to the end of the 7th century, to the point that in 695, upon assuming the throne, Byzantine emperor Justinian II put an image of Christ on the obverse side of his gold coins, resulting in a rift which ended the use of Byzantine coin types in the Islamic world.[105] However, the increase in religious imagery did not include depictions of God the Father. For instance, while the eighty second canon of the Council of Trullo in 692 did not specifically condemn images of The Father, it suggested that icons of Christ were preferred over Old Testament shadows and figures.[106]
The beginning of the 8th century witnessed the suppression and destruction of religious icons as the period of Byzantine iconoclasm (literally image-breaking) started. Emperor Leo III (717–741), suppressed the use of icons by imperial edict of the Byzantine Empire, presumably due to a military loss which he attributed to the undue veneration of icons.[107] The edict (which was issued without consulting the Church) forbade the veneration of religious images but did not apply to other forms of art, including the image of the emperor, or religious symbols such as the cross.[108] Theological arguments against icons then began to appear with iconoclasts arguing that icons could not represent both the divine and the human natures of Jesus at the same time. In this atmosphere, no public depictions of God the Father were even attempted and such depictions only began to appear two centuries later.
The Second Council of Nicaea in 787 effectively ended the first period of Byzantine iconoclasm and restored the honouring of icons and holy images in general.[109] However, this did not immediately translate into large scale depictions of God the Father. Even supporters of the use of icons in the 8th century, such as Saint John of Damascus, drew a distinction between images of God the Father and those of Christ.
In his treatise On the Divine Images John of Damascus wrote: "In former times, God who is without form or body, could never be depicted. But now when God is seen in the flesh conversing with men, I make an image of the God whom I see".[110] The implication here is that insofar as God the Father or the Spirit did not become man, visible and tangible, images and portrait icons can not be depicted. So what was true for the whole Trinity before Christ remains true for the Father and the Spirit but not for the Word. John of Damascus wrote:[111]
"If we attempt to make an image of the invisible God, this would be sinful indeed. It is impossible to portray one who is without body:invisible, uncircumscribed and without form."
Around 790 Charlemagne ordered a set of four books that became known as the Libri Carolini (i.e. "Charles' books") to refute what his court mistakenly understood to be the iconoclast decrees of the Byzantine Second Council of Nicaea regarding sacred images. Although not well known during the Middle Ages, these books describe the key elements of the Catholic theological position on sacred images. To the Western Church, images were just objects made by craftsmen, to be utilized for stimulating the senses of the faithful, and to be respected for the sake of the subject represented, not in themselves. The Council of Constantinople (869) (considered ecumenical by the Western Church, but not the Eastern Church) reaffirmed the decisions of the Second Council of Nicaea and helped stamp out any remaining coals of iconoclasm. Specifically, its third canon required the image of Christ to have veneration equal with that of a Gospel book:[112]
We decree that the sacred image of our Lord Jesus Christ, the liberator and Savior of all people, must be venerated with the same honor as is given the book of the holy Gospels. For as through the language of the words contained in this book all can reach salvation, so, due to the action which these images exercise by their colors, all wise and simple alike, can derive profit from them.
But images of God the Father were not directly addressed in Constantinople in 869. A list of permitted icons was enumerated at this Council, but symbols of God the Father were not among them.[113] However, the general acceptance of icons and holy images began to create an atmosphere in which God the Father could be symbolized.
Prior to the 10th century no attempt was made to use a human to symbolize God the Father in Western art.[104] Yet, Western art eventually required some way to illustrate the presence of the Father, so through successive representations a set of artistic styles for symbolizing the Father using a man gradually emerged around the 10th century AD. A rationale for the use of a human is the belief that God created the soul of Man in the image of His own (thus allowing Human to transcend the other animals).
It appears that when early artists designed to represent God the Father, fear and awe restrained them from a usage of the whole human figure. Typically only a small part would be used as the image, usually the hand, or sometimes the face, but rarely a whole human. In many images, the figure of the Son supplants the Father, so a smaller portion of the person of the Father is depicted.[114]
By the 12th century depictions of God the Father had started to appear in French illuminated manuscripts, which as a less public form could often be more adventurous in their iconography, and in stained glass church windows in England. Initially the head or bust was usually shown in some form of frame of clouds in the top of the picture space, where the Hand of God had formerly appeared; the Baptism of Christ on the famous baptismal font in Liège of Rainer of Huy is an example from 1118 (a Hand of God is used in another scene). Gradually the amount of the human symbol shown can increase to a half-length figure, then a full-length, usually enthroned, as in Giotto's fresco of c. 1305 in Padua.[115] In the 14th century the Naples Bible carried a depiction of God the Father in the Burning bush. By the early 15th century, the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry has a considerable number of symbols, including an elderly but tall and elegant full-length figure walking in the Garden of Eden, which show a considerable diversity of apparent ages and dress. The "Gates of Paradise" of the Florence Baptistry by Lorenzo Ghiberti, begun in 1425 use a similar tall full-length symbol for the Father. The Rohan Book of Hours of about 1430 also included depictions of God the Father in half-length human form, which were now becoming standard, and the Hand of God becoming rarer. At the same period other works, like the large Genesis altarpiece by the Hamburg painter Meister Bertram, continued to use the old depiction of Christ as Logos in Genesis scenes. In the 15th century there was a brief fashion for depicting all three persons of the Trinity as similar or identical figures with the usual appearance of Christ.
In an early Venetian school Coronation of the Virgin by Giovanni d'Alemagna and Antonio Vivarini, (c. 1443) The Father is depicted using the symbol consistently used by other artists later, namely a patriarch, with benign, yet powerful countenance and with long white hair and a beard, a depiction largely derived from, and justified by, the near-physical, but still figurative, description of the Ancient of Days.[116]
. ...the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. (Daniel 7:9)
Usage of two Hands of God"(relatively unusual) and the Holy Spirit as a dove in Baptism of Christ, by Verrocchio, 1472
In the Annunciation by Benvenuto di Giovanni in 1470, God the Father is portrayed in the red robe and a hat that resembles that of a Cardinal. However, even in the later part of the 15th century, the symbolic representation of the Father and the Holy Spirit as "hands and dove" continued, e.g. in Verrocchio's Baptism of Christ in 1472.[117]
God the Father with His Right Hand Raised in Blessing, with a triangular halo representing the Trinity, Girolamo dai Libri c. 1555
In Renaissance paintings of the adoration of the Trinity, God may be depicted in two ways, either with emphasis on The Father, or the three elements of the Trinity. The most usual depiction of the Trinity in Renaissance art depicts God the Father using an old man, usually with a long beard and patriarchal in appearance, sometimes with a triangular halo (as a reference to the Trinity), or with a papal crown, specially in Northern Renaissance painting. In these depictions The Father may hold a globe or book (to symbolize God's knowledge and as a reference to how knowledge is deemed divine). He is behind and above Christ on the Cross in the Throne of Mercy iconography. A dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit may hover above. Various people from different classes of society, e.g. kings, popes or martyrs may be present in the picture. In a Trinitarian Pietà, God the Father is often symbolized using a man wearing a papal dress and a papal crown, supporting the dead Christ in his arms. They are depicted as floating in heaven with angels who carry the instruments of the Passion.[118]
Representations of God the Father and the Trinity were attacked both by Protestants and within Catholicism, by the Jansenist and Baianist movements as well as more orthodox theologians. As with other attacks on Catholic imagery, this had the effect both of reducing Church support for the less central depictions, and strengthening it for the core ones. In the Western Church, the pressure to restrain religious imagery resulted in the highly influential decrees of the final session of the Council of Trent in 1563. The Council of Trent decrees confirmed the traditional Catholic doctrine that images only represented the person depicted, and that veneration to them was paid to the person, not the image.[119]
Artistic depictions of God the Father were uncontroversial in Catholic art thereafter, but less common depictions of the Trinity were condemned. In 1745 Pope Benedict XIV explicitly supported the Throne of Mercy depiction, referring to the "Ancient of Days", but in 1786 it was still necessary for Pope Pius VI to issue a papal bull condemning the decision of an Italian church council to remove all images of the Trinity from churches.[120]
The famous The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo, c.1512
God the Father is symbolized in several Genesis scenes in Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling, most famously The Creation of Adam (whose image of near touching hands of God and Adam is iconic of humanity, being a reminder that Man is created in the Image and Likeness of God (Gen 1:26)).God the Father is depicted as a powerful figure, floating in the clouds in Titian's Assumption of the Virgin in the Frari of Venice, long admired as a masterpiece of High Renaissance art.[121] The Church of the Gesù in Rome includes a number of 16th century depictions of God the Father. In some of these paintings the Trinity is still alluded to in terms of three angels, but Giovanni Battista Fiammeri also depicted God the Father as a man riding on a cloud, above the scenes.[122]
In both the Last Judgment and the Coronation of the Virgin paintings by Rubens he depicted God the Father using the image that by then had become widely accepted, a bearded patriarchal figure above the fray. In the 17th century, the two Spanish artists Velázquez (whose father-in-law Francisco Pacheco was in charge of the approval of new images for the Inquisition) and Murillo both depicted God the Father using a patriarchal figure with a white beard in a purple robe.
The Ancient of Days (1794) Watercolor etching by William Blake
While representations of God the Father were growing in Italy, Spain, Germany and the Low Countries, there was resistance elsewhere in Europe, even during the 17th century. In 1632 most members of the Star Chamber court in England (except the Archbishop of York) condemned the use of the images of the Trinity in church windows, and some considered them illegal.[123] Later in the 17th century Sir Thomas Browne wrote that he considered the representation of God the Father using an old man "a dangerous act" that might lead to Egyptian symbolism.[124] In 1847, Charles Winston was still critical of such images as a "Romish trend" (a term used to refer to Roman Catholics) that he considered best avoided in England.[125]
In 1667 the 43rd chapter of the Great Moscow Council specifically included a ban on a number of symbolic depictions of God the Father and the Holy Spirit, which then also resulted in a whole range of other icons being placed on the forbidden list,[126][127] mostly affecting Western-style depictions which had been gaining ground in Orthodox icons. The Council also declared that the person of the Trinity who was the "Ancient of Days" was Christ, as Logos, not God the Father. However some icons continued to be produced in Russia, as well as Greece, Romania, and other Orthodox countries.
Theological approaches
Theologians and philosophers have attributed to God such characteristics as omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, perfect goodness, divine simplicity, and eternal and necessary existence. God has been described as incorporeal, a personal being, the source of all moral obligation, and the greatest conceivable being existent.[3] These attributes were all claimed to varying degrees by the early Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars, including Maimonides,[53] St Augustine,[53] and Al-Ghazali.[128]
Many philosophers developed arguments for the existence of God,[8] while attempting to comprehend the precise implications of God's attributes. Reconciling some of those attributes generated important philosophical problems and debates. For example, God's omniscience may seem to imply that God knows how free agents will choose to act. If God does know this, their ostensible free will might be illusory, or foreknowledge does not imply predestination, and if God does not know it, God may not be omniscient.[129]
However, if by its essential nature, free will is not predetermined, then the effect of its will can never be perfectly predicted by anyone, regardless of intelligence and knowledge. Although knowledge of the options presented to that will, combined with perfectly infinite intelligence, could be said to provide God with omniscience if omniscience is defined as knowledge or understanding of all that is.
The last centuries of philosophy have seen vigorous questions regarding the arguments for God's existence raised by such philosophers as Immanuel Kant, David Hume and Antony Flew, although Kant held that the argument from morality was valid. The theist response has been either to contend, as does Alvin Plantinga, that faith is "properly basic", or to take, as does Richard Swinburne, the evidentialist position.[130] Some theists agree that only some of the arguments for God's existence are compelling, but argue that faith is not a product of reason, but requires risk. There would be no risk, they say, if the arguments for God's existence were as solid as the laws of logic, a position summed up by Pascal as "the heart has reasons of which reason does not know."[131] A recent theory using concepts from physics and neurophysiology proposes that God can be conceptualized within the theory of integrative level.[132]
Many religious believers allow for the existence of other, less powerful spiritual beings such as angels, saints, jinn, demons, and devas.[133][134][135][136][137]
The Bouleuterion is one of the best preserved buildings in the whole of the ancient city. Strabo refers to the existence of a Gerontikon or Senate House at Nysa, bt this must be a predecessor to the present building. The bouleuterion is situated in the eastern half of the site and is reached from the Theatre, by means of the path that runs past the Market Basilica and the row of Shops, while to the east lies the Agora. The Bouleuterion has a square exterior plan, measuring 23,44 X 27,24 metres, but has a semicircular shape inside, forming a banked auditorium or cavea of 12 rows of seats, divided into four segments by five stairways. Its frontage comprises an open vestibule, but the building's thick walls indicate that the main body of the Bouleuterion was roofed. On the north side of the building is a vaulted gallery, containing four elliptical columns, set about 5 metres apart. On the south side are five doorways providing entrances to the building, while side passages (paradoi) give access to the orchestra. The floor of the orchestra is paved with marble opus sectile, arranged in a star pattern comprising square an octagonal slabs and surrounded by other rectangular panels. This floor had earlier been exposed to the elements and, in order to preserve it from further damage, the area was covered up in 1995. It is estimated that the Bouleuterion had a capacity of about 600-800. The south vestibule is decorated with a polychrome mosaic of geometric design. A pool was added to this part of the building at a late date in its history, together with a row of statue bases. Architectural fragments found in the Bouleuterion date it to the 1st century AD, but it is clear from other decorative elements and an inscription referring to the empresses Faustina the Elder the Younger that it also underwent alterations in the middle of the 2nd century AD.
Nysa ad Meander antik kentinin en iyi korunmuş yapılarından birisi Buleuterion'dur. Strabon, bu yapıyı Gerontikon (Yaşlılar Meclisi) olarak tanımlamıştır. Bouleuterion, antik kentin doğu kesiminde, tiyatronun güneydoğusundaki Pazar Bazilikası ve Dükkanlar geçildikten sonra gelinen bir alanda yer almaktadır. Yapının doğusunda kentin Agorası bulunmaktadır. Bouleuterion dikdörtgen planlı olarak inşa edilmiş olup, iç kısmında yarım daire şeklindeki Cavea (Theatron) kısmı yer almaktadır. Bouleterion'un 23,40 X 27,24 m. ölçüsündeki bu dikdörtgen şekilli esas yapısının önünde ise üstü açık olan bir ön salon kısmı bulunmaktadır. Yapının oturma sıraları 12 adettir ve bunlar 5 merdiven sırası ile 4 bölüme ayrılmıştır. Bouleuterion'un kalın duvarları yapının üstünün örtülü olduğuna işaret etmektedir. Yapının kuzey kısmında kemerli bir galeri bulunmaktadır ve burada yaklaşık 5 m. aralıklarla yerleştirilmiş olan 4 adet eliptik sütun vardır. Yapıya güneydeki 5 adet kapıdan girilmektedir. Ayıca, orkestraya girişte, yanlarda da paradoslar bulunmaktadır. Nysa'daki bu Bouleuterion'un orkestra kısmında ortada, orijinalinde eşkenar dörtgen ışıklı sekizgen göbekli bir yıldız motifinin oluşturduğu opus sectile taban kaplamasını düzgün dikdörtgen mermer plakalar çevrelemektedir. Doğanın tahribatına açık olan bu mermer kaplamalar Nysa'da 1995 yılında yapılan kazı ve onarım çalışmaları sırasında üstü örtülerek koruma altına alınmıştır. Nysa Bouleuterion'unun yaklaşık 600 ile 800 kişiyi alabilecek kapasitede olduğu anlaşılmaktadır. Yapının güneyindeki salonun döşemesinin çeşitli renklerdeki geometrik motiflerle süslü bir mozaikle kaplı olduğu görülmektedir. Yapıya geç bir tarihte eklendiği düşünülen güneydeki bu kısımda bir havuz ile bir dizi halinde sıralanmış olan çeşitli heykel kaidelerinin bulunduğu görülmektedir.
Bouleuterion'da MS 1. yüzyıla tarihlenebilen mimari parçalar bulunmaktadır. Ayrıca MS 2. yüzyıla ait olan mimari süslemeler ile bir yazıtta imparatoriçe genç ve yaşlı Faustina'lara değinilmesi de yapının Roma İmparatorluk devrinde Antoninler döneminde (MS 2. yüzyılın ortası) bir değişiklik gördüğüne işaret etmektedir.
Bouleuterion'da ilk kez 1907 ve 1909 yıllarında W.von Diest başkanlığında sürdürülen çalışmalar, yapı hakkında genel bilgilere ulaşmak için sondaj şeklinde gerçekleştirilmiştir. Yapıda geniş kapsamlı kazı çalışmalarını 1921 ve 1922 yıllarında Yunanlı Arkeolog K. Kouriniotis gerçekleştirmiştir. Bu çalışmalar Kurtuluş Savaşı sırasında çok hızlı bir şekilde sürdürülmüş, koilon (cavea) ile scaenae frons tamamen kazılarak ortaya çıkarılmıştır. Ancak yapı tam anlamıyla araştırılıp yayını yapılmamıştır. B çalışmalarda ortaya çıkan toprak ve moloz yapının güneydoğusundaki alanda biriktirilmiştir. 1960'lı yıllarda zamanla toprakla dolan Bouleuterion'da İzmir Arkeoloji Müzesi Müdürlüğü'nce tekrar kazılara başlanmıştır. Ancak bu çalışmaların da sonuçları yayınlanmamıştır.
1990 yılından itibaren Prof. Dr. Vedat İDİL başkanlığında yürütülen kazılarda ise, 1997 yılında kısa süreli olarak Bouleuterion'un orkestrasında, 1998 ve 2002 yıllarında yapının kuzeyinde ve güneybatı köşesinde birer açma gerçekleştirilmiş, 2006 yılından itibaren Bouleuterion'un güney girişinin önündeki stoaların tespitine, Bouleuterion'un Agora ile arasındaki caddeye (Cardo Maximum) çıkışına ve sırtını Doğu Stoa'ya veren "Cardo Maximus" üzerindeki dükkanlara odaklanılmıştır.
Son yıllarda yapılan yeni tespitlere göre, Bouleuterion'un güneydeki beş ayrı çıkışı, doğu, batı, kuzey ve güney stoaları çevrelenmiş bir alana bağlanmakta, bu alanı çevreleyen doğu stoanın içindeki bir koridor ile de Bouleuterion - Agora bağlantısını sağlayacak şekilde Cardo Maxsimus'a çıkıldığı anlaşılmıştır.
Kaynak:
1- Nysa ve Akharaka - Prof.Dr. Vedat İdil, Yaşar Eğitim ve Kültür Vakfı Yayını, İstanbul 1999
2- 2003, 2004, 2005 ve 2006 Yılları Nysa Kazı ve Restorasyon Çalışmaları Raporları
A few months ago I read a post about this ancient monument, I was unaware of its existence.
I logged into my Google Maps and recorded it as one of my desired places to visit.
Today Thursday 15th November 2018 Scotland basked in a beautiful Autumn sunshine, my favoured shooting conditions, I packed my Nikon and drove the 25 miles to the site.
Historic Environment Scotland maintain the monument , thankfully they have done a magnificent job, I truly believe it is important to preserve history for the generations to come.
I had a magnificent two hours recording my experience, I never fail to feel overwhelmed by the wealth of history that surrounds Aberdeen and the shire.
Thank's to Historic Environment Scotland for their detailed information on this site.
Ancient Monument - Kinkell Church - Inverurie Aberdeen Scotland.
Kinkell Church, built in the 1200s, is a classic medieval Highland church: simply designed and rectangular in shape. But the liturgical features installed in the 1520s are anything but plain. The stone sacrament house in the north of the church is an especially fine fixture.
Kinkell was refitted for Presbyterian worship following the Protestant Reformation of 1560, and declared redundant in 1771. Much of the building was dismantled and building materials recycled for use in a new kirk.
KINKELL CHURCH
• Kinkell Church, dedicated to St Michael, consist of the remains of a simple rectangular medieval parish church, of which only the N, W and part of the E
wall are upstanding.
The church was partly remodelled, perhaps on more than one occasion,
including in the early 16th century, when an elaborately carved Sacrament
House was built into the E end of the N wall.
Within the church is the monument of Gilbert de Greenlaw, killed at the battle
of Harlaw in 1411; the stone was re-used for a Forbes burial in 1592
CHARACTER OF THE MONUMENT
The church appears to have come on record in the early 13th century. Kinkell
was a mother church, or plebanus, and had dependent chapels at Dyce,
Drumblade, Kemnay, Kinnellar, Kintore and Skene.
This connection, which
was of long standing, may have arisen if Kinkell’s origins was that of an ecclesiastical foundation, rather like a minster, with an extensive parochia.
This would push back its origins considerably.
From the 14th century, certain revenues of the church evidently pertained to the Knights Hospitallers, although it is also recorded as an independent parsonage during the 14th century.
Any connection with the Hospitallers came to an end in 1420, when the church
and its annexes were erected into a prebend of Aberdeen Cathedral.
From a date and a set of initials on the sacrament house, it is apparent that in 1524 Alexander Galloway, rector of Kinkell and canon of Aberdeen Cathedral,
paid for the splendid sacrament house built into the E end of the N wall.
He appears to have been paying for further work the following year as a carved stone panel depicting the crucifixion, dated 1525, and with Alexander’s initials (three times), is built into the N wall (only a bronze replica survives; the original
was removed to Aberdeen Museum in 1934 and subsequently lost).
The church was abandoned in 1771 when the parish was amalgamated with
Keithhall. It was partially demolished to provide building materials for the new
parish church.
Archaeological Overview
There have been no recorded archaeological investigations at Kinkell.
The archaeological potential of the monument is extremely high and any excavation is very like to come across human remains, and perhaps also earlier church
buildings on the site.
Artistic/Architectural Overview
The church is fragmentary and devoid of features apart for the sacrament
house, the crucifixion panel and a single jamb of what must have been a large,
traceried E window. The simple oblong plan of the church suggests that the
basic form of the church dates from the early 13th century, with much late
medieval remodelling.
2/3
• The sacrament house is a particularly fine, and unique, example of this type of
medieval church fixture. It was an aumbry, or wall cupboard, designed to
reserve the host in appropriate reverential surroundings.
• The sacrament house at Kinkell shares several features with others found in
the NE, associated with Galloway, but is unique due to its cross shape. The
aumbry is flanked by two buttresses with crocketed finials. Between these is a
panel, which although badly defaced, appears to have been ornamented with a
monstrance supported by two angels (a very common motif found on other
sacrament houses associated with Alexander Galloway). Above this panel is a
corbelled and battlemented cornice, and above this is an oblong panel, which
probably contained a crucifixion scene, but is now empty. Flanking the
pinnacles are two panels, each filled with scrolls, which are of different forms
although the inscriptions on the scrolls were meant to be read as one and
state: ‘Here is preserved that body which was born of a virgin’.
• The crucifixion panel has a representation of St Michael, the archangel (to
whom the church was dedicated) to the right of the crucified, the Virgin on the
left and under her a priest, perhaps representing Galloway himself as donor,
standing beside an altar on which are Galloway’s initials.
• The sacrament house and the Crucifixion panel appear to have been part of a
liturgical revival in the diocese of Aberdeen during the early decade on the 16th
century. Alexander Galloway appear to have been a central figure in the move
to ensure parish churches had the fittings for the proper worship of God, and in
particular devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. He erected several sacrament
houses in churches he was involved in; Kinkell and its dependents at Dyce and
Kintore, and at King College, Aberdeen and may have been influential in the
decision of his colleagues, Alexander Spittal of Auchindoir and Alexander Lyon
of Turiff, to erect those in their respective churches. Galloway also donated a
font to Kinkell, which now is now in St John’s Episcopal Church, Aberdeen.
• The construction of the sacrament house may have been part of a wider
reorganisation of the chancel area of the church, and it is tempting to suggest
that the great E window may have been a part of this re-organisation, although
details of this moulding may be more consistent with a 14th or 15th century
date.
Social Overview
• The church is currently used as a recreational attraction. It receives little other
community use.
Spiritual Overview
• As a parish church in use for some six centuries, the site has the potential to
inform our understanding of medieval Christianity, the aspirations of the
rectors, vicars and ministers who served the church and the congregations
who worshipped in it.
• The burial ground was in use until fairly recently, and may still be in use for
occasional burials. People still visit family graves and memorials.
Aesthetic Overview
• The church and burial ground are located in the haughs of the River Don,
amongst arable farmland which adds to the appreciation of this monument.
The church has been pointed with a hard cement mortar that give the walls the impression of crazy paving.
The sacrament house, the replica crucifixion panel,
3/3 the window jamb are fine architectural details which are aesthetically very striking, and provide some idea of the glories of this once very fine church.
• The graveslab of Gilbert de Greenlaw, killed at the Battle of Harlaw, which would originally have been a ledger slab, is a particularly detailed carving of an armed knight.
What are the major gaps in understanding of the property?
• Do further historical sources or references survive.
• Nothing is known about the archaeology and earlier history of this site.
The church is an example, although much ruined, of a church which was remodelled in the 16th century.
The sacrament house is a particularly fine example of this type of church
furnishing, and the only example which takes the form of a cross.
Sacrament houses are physical manifestation of an important aspect of late medieval
Christianity; the veneration and adoration of the Body of Christ in the form of the consecrated host.
The church is closely associated with Canon Alexander Galloway, who encouraged a liturgical revival in the diocese in the early 16th century.
The site has high archaeological potential, but as a place of burial over centuries so the scope for research-led invasive excavation is not high.
Associated Properties
St Fergus’, Dyce, Auchindoir Church, St Machars Cathedral, Kintore Church,
Handheld shot at 200mm focal length using a Nikon 18-200mm VR lens.
Much better if viewed at the larger sizes so you can see the crisp detail....
A few months ago I read a post about this ancient monument, I was unaware of its existence.
I logged into my Google Maps and recorded it as one of my desired places to visit.
Today Thursday 15th November 2018 Scotland basked in a beautiful Autumn sunshine, my favoured shooting conditions, I packed my Nikon and drove the 25 miles to the site.
Historic Environment Scotland maintain the monument , thankfully they have done a magnificent job, I truly believe it is important to preserve history for the generations to come.
I had a magnificent two hours recording my experience, I never fail to feel overwhelmed by the wealth of history that surrounds Aberdeen and the shire.
Thank's to Historic Environment Scotland for their detailed information on this site.
Ancient Monument - Kinkell Church - Inverurie Aberdeen Scotland.
Kinkell Church, built in the 1200s, is a classic medieval Highland church: simply designed and rectangular in shape. But the liturgical features installed in the 1520s are anything but plain. The stone sacrament house in the north of the church is an especially fine fixture.
Kinkell was refitted for Presbyterian worship following the Protestant Reformation of 1560, and declared redundant in 1771. Much of the building was dismantled and building materials recycled for use in a new kirk.
KINKELL CHURCH
• Kinkell Church, dedicated to St Michael, consist of the remains of a simple rectangular medieval parish church, of which only the N, W and part of the E
wall are upstanding.
The church was partly remodelled, perhaps on more than one occasion,
including in the early 16th century, when an elaborately carved Sacrament
House was built into the E end of the N wall.
Within the church is the monument of Gilbert de Greenlaw, killed at the battle
of Harlaw in 1411; the stone was re-used for a Forbes burial in 1592
CHARACTER OF THE MONUMENT
The church appears to have come on record in the early 13th century. Kinkell
was a mother church, or plebanus, and had dependent chapels at Dyce,
Drumblade, Kemnay, Kinnellar, Kintore and Skene.
This connection, which
was of long standing, may have arisen if Kinkell’s origins was that of an ecclesiastical foundation, rather like a minster, with an extensive parochia.
This would push back its origins considerably.
From the 14th century, certain revenues of the church evidently pertained to the Knights Hospitallers, although it is also recorded as an independent parsonage during the 14th century.
Any connection with the Hospitallers came to an end in 1420, when the church
and its annexes were erected into a prebend of Aberdeen Cathedral.
From a date and a set of initials on the sacrament house, it is apparent that in 1524 Alexander Galloway, rector of Kinkell and canon of Aberdeen Cathedral,
paid for the splendid sacrament house built into the E end of the N wall.
He appears to have been paying for further work the following year as a carved stone panel depicting the crucifixion, dated 1525, and with Alexander’s initials (three times), is built into the N wall (only a bronze replica survives; the original
was removed to Aberdeen Museum in 1934 and subsequently lost).
The church was abandoned in 1771 when the parish was amalgamated with
Keithhall. It was partially demolished to provide building materials for the new
parish church.
Archaeological Overview
There have been no recorded archaeological investigations at Kinkell.
The archaeological potential of the monument is extremely high and any excavation is very like to come across human remains, and perhaps also earlier church
buildings on the site.
Artistic/Architectural Overview
The church is fragmentary and devoid of features apart for the sacrament
house, the crucifixion panel and a single jamb of what must have been a large,
traceried E window. The simple oblong plan of the church suggests that the
basic form of the church dates from the early 13th century, with much late
medieval remodelling.
2/3
• The sacrament house is a particularly fine, and unique, example of this type of
medieval church fixture. It was an aumbry, or wall cupboard, designed to
reserve the host in appropriate reverential surroundings.
• The sacrament house at Kinkell shares several features with others found in
the NE, associated with Galloway, but is unique due to its cross shape. The
aumbry is flanked by two buttresses with crocketed finials. Between these is a
panel, which although badly defaced, appears to have been ornamented with a
monstrance supported by two angels (a very common motif found on other
sacrament houses associated with Alexander Galloway). Above this panel is a
corbelled and battlemented cornice, and above this is an oblong panel, which
probably contained a crucifixion scene, but is now empty. Flanking the
pinnacles are two panels, each filled with scrolls, which are of different forms
although the inscriptions on the scrolls were meant to be read as one and
state: ‘Here is preserved that body which was born of a virgin’.
• The crucifixion panel has a representation of St Michael, the archangel (to
whom the church was dedicated) to the right of the crucified, the Virgin on the
left and under her a priest, perhaps representing Galloway himself as donor,
standing beside an altar on which are Galloway’s initials.
• The sacrament house and the Crucifixion panel appear to have been part of a
liturgical revival in the diocese of Aberdeen during the early decade on the 16th
century. Alexander Galloway appear to have been a central figure in the move
to ensure parish churches had the fittings for the proper worship of God, and in
particular devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. He erected several sacrament
houses in churches he was involved in; Kinkell and its dependents at Dyce and
Kintore, and at King College, Aberdeen and may have been influential in the
decision of his colleagues, Alexander Spittal of Auchindoir and Alexander Lyon
of Turiff, to erect those in their respective churches. Galloway also donated a
font to Kinkell, which now is now in St John’s Episcopal Church, Aberdeen.
• The construction of the sacrament house may have been part of a wider
reorganisation of the chancel area of the church, and it is tempting to suggest
that the great E window may have been a part of this re-organisation, although
details of this moulding may be more consistent with a 14th or 15th century
date.
Social Overview
• The church is currently used as a recreational attraction. It receives little other
community use.
Spiritual Overview
• As a parish church in use for some six centuries, the site has the potential to
inform our understanding of medieval Christianity, the aspirations of the
rectors, vicars and ministers who served the church and the congregations
who worshipped in it.
• The burial ground was in use until fairly recently, and may still be in use for
occasional burials. People still visit family graves and memorials.
Aesthetic Overview
• The church and burial ground are located in the haughs of the River Don,
amongst arable farmland which adds to the appreciation of this monument.
The church has been pointed with a hard cement mortar that give the walls the impression of crazy paving.
The sacrament house, the replica crucifixion panel,
3/3 the window jamb are fine architectural details which are aesthetically very striking, and provide some idea of the glories of this once very fine church.
• The graveslab of Gilbert de Greenlaw, killed at the Battle of Harlaw, which would originally have been a ledger slab, is a particularly detailed carving of an armed knight.
What are the major gaps in understanding of the property?
• Do further historical sources or references survive.
• Nothing is known about the archaeology and earlier history of this site.
The church is an example, although much ruined, of a church which was remodelled in the 16th century.
The sacrament house is a particularly fine example of this type of church
furnishing, and the only example which takes the form of a cross.
Sacrament houses are physical manifestation of an important aspect of late medieval
Christianity; the veneration and adoration of the Body of Christ in the form of the consecrated host.
The church is closely associated with Canon Alexander Galloway, who encouraged a liturgical revival in the diocese in the early 16th century.
The site has high archaeological potential, but as a place of burial over centuries so the scope for research-led invasive excavation is not high.
Associated Properties
St Fergus’, Dyce, Auchindoir Church, St Machars Cathedral, Kintore Church,