The gate of the year

Mosaic on the apse of the Church of St. Clemente al Laterano, Rome, realized during the XII century. The crucifix originates from a tuft of leaves and is thoroughly encircled by leafy spirals which occupy the entire scene.
One can notice here the attempt to superimpose images pertaining to the Christian tradition on an underlying tree symbolism, which seems still powerful and effectual. The cults practiced in the woods and beside springs were among the most frequent objects of assault by the Christian preachers. “Destroying the sacred woods and substituting the cult of the saints to the cult of fountains and springs, the Church has thrown itself, since late Antiquity, into a long-term endeavour whose purpose was nothing less than to anthropomorphize the world and to submit the natural world to man” (Vauchez 1987, p. 354).
According to the medieval Legenda crucis, the cross on which Christ has been crucified had been built with the wood of the tree from the Garden of Eden, thus identifying the cross with the cosmic tree which arose at the centre of the world in the time of origins.

[Image: http://basilicasanclemente.com/eng/]




Tree Symbols

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Mosaic on the apse of the Church of St. Clemente al Laterano, Rome, realized during the XII century. The crucifix originates from a tuft of leaves and is thoroughly encircled by leafy spirals which occupy the entire scene. One can notice here the attempt to superimpose images pertaining to the Christian tradition on an underlying tree symbolism, which seems still powerful and effectual. The cults practiced in the woods and beside springs were among the most frequent objects of assault by the Christian preachers. “Destroying the sacred woods and substituting the cult of the saints to the cult of fountains and springs, the Church has thrown itself, since late Antiquity, into a long-term endeavour whose purpose was nothing less than to anthropomorphize the world and to submit the natural world to man” (Vauchez 1987, p. 354). According to the medieval Legenda crucis, the cross on which Christ has been crucified had been built with the wood of the tree from the Garden of Eden, thus identifying the cross with the cosmic tree which arose at the centre of the world in the time of origins. [Image: http://basilicasanclemente.com/eng/]