Navarra GREEN MEN OF LA OLIVA Nearby places: Olite
Paradisical
images at the entrance: (wo)man is harmony with nature
Until a bishop (i.e.
abbot) felt that it was not theologically right.....Thus he let cut a piece of this
beautiful sculpture replacing it by his image i.e. authority. A warning not to
"sin", i.e. deviate from the "right" path....
TYMPANUM
Green Man
In the beginning I didn't know
what to do with this lower part of the tympanum. It is rather chaotic, indeed. Then I
discovered the Green Men. war alles ziemlich chaotisch. Dann entdeckte ich die
Grünen Männer. Summarizing, we see here an image, which is quite rare....
Revealing Discovery Note 10
Christ
It includes the spectrum of
life, like it "should be". Christ is in the center. To follow him i.e. avoiding
sin! means exercising Christian virtues, in practice meaning to work (hard)....Not doing
this and you will slip down i.e. be overwhelmed by natural greed and lust. Symbolized by
the Green Men at the end of the spectrum on both sides.....as warning.....
Green Men
Ditto
This I like
very much in Spanish churches: the Madonna in the Center of the Choir. It reflects
spiritual Reality
Always this
discrepancy: Warnings at the exterior; "pagan" images in the interior of the
church
Kreuzgang
A woman
(Great Mother) in the Cauldron of Abundance (Grail)
Jesus as
Green Man?
Two
unfortunately very neglected Green Men
My intuition told me, that in
former days this monastery had a very open atmosphere. Through interference of the
ecclesiastic authorities this stopped abruptly, though....
