These Magi came from the West.
Sorbonne editions| N° d'inventaire | 25653 |
| Format | 16 x 24 |
| Détails | 466 p, illustrated, paperback. |
| Publication | Paris, 2022 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9791035106805 |
What can we still say today about the Magi, whom we easily recognize at the head of caravans laden with the riches of the East? What if these Magi had actually come from the West? What if the Magi had been crowned not in their distant lands, but in the kingdoms of feudal Europe?
The book offers to follow the journey of the Magi through a tradition more than a thousand years old, right down to the sculptures, murals and stained glass windows of the churches of the 10th and 12th centuries. centuries. At one stage of this journey, pagan magicians received the highest insignia there is, the royal crown. It is as kings and magi that they take shape in consciousness and in the arts.
By examining all the changes in images over time, from the most remarkable to the most unnoticed, and by studying them in the light of texts, ritual, and the place of decorations in architecture, the author invites us to probe the imagination of feudal society to discover what fascinates the populations of that time about these three men. The answer is found neither in the Orient nor in legendary stories but in the meaning of their act of charity: a gift to a child that is an offering to God.
What can we still say today about the Magi, whom we easily recognize at the head of caravans laden with the riches of the East? What if these Magi had actually come from the West? What if the Magi had been crowned not in their distant lands, but in the kingdoms of feudal Europe?
The book offers to follow the journey of the Magi through a tradition more than a thousand years old, right down to the sculptures, murals and stained glass windows of the churches of the 10th and 12th centuries. centuries. At one stage of this journey, pagan magicians received the highest insignia there is, the royal crown. It is as kings and magi that they take shape in consciousness and in the arts.
By examining all the changes in images over time, from the most remarkable to the most unnoticed, and by studying them in the light of texts, ritual, and the place of decorations in architecture, the author invites us to probe the imagination of feudal society to discover what fascinates the populations of that time about these three men. The answer is found neither in the Orient nor in legendary stories but in the meaning of their act of charity: a gift to a child that is an offering to God.