For me, one of the greatest joys of travel is the personal knowledge of the great art, which I have collected in the book 100 best masterpieces of Europe . This is one of my favorites:
Jesus Christ sits on a throne and solemnly balances something very important: a book, the Holy Word of God. He has a lush head of curly blond hair and a thoughtful expression. It sits under an archway and is surrounded by a labyrinth of intricate colorful patterns.
This example from the ancient Bible tells the story of Jesus. This particular painting came at a time in history when this heavenly Messiah would be born as a humble man on earth (Matthew 1:18).
This is just one page from the beautiful 1200 year old Bible known as the Book of Kells. This book is perhaps the finest work of art of the Middle Ages and a rare piece from that turbulent period.
It is the 800th year. The Roman Empire collapsed and devastated Europe. The Vikings raided and plundered. In the last years of the empire, the officially accepted Christian faith weakened as Europe returned to its pagan and illiterate ways. In the midst of the turmoil, on the far edge of Europe, lived a group of learned Irish monks dedicated to tending the coals of civilization.
These monks worked to preserve the word of God in the book of Kilis. They slaughtered and dried 185 calves to create 680 creamy sheets called the manuscript. Then the monks of the tonsils took the swan's feather and went to work. They carefully wrote the Latin words, decorated the letters with inlaid ornaments and cut the text with full-page illustrations, thus creating this "illuminated" manuscript. The project was stopped in 806 when the Vikings brutally sacked the monastery and killed 68 monks. But the survivors fled to Kells Abbey (near Dublin) and finished their precious Bible.
Christ seated on the throne is only one page of this beautiful book - 1/680 . Upon closer inspection, the page's incredible detail work comes to life. On either side of Christ are two mysterious men in robes and two ugly looking angels with their arms crossed in front of them. Around Christ's head is a peacock (symbol of Christ's resurrection) with his feet intertwined among vines (symbols of his Israelite roots). True, Christ is not that realistic: he stands stiff, like a Byzantine icon, with almond-shaped eyes, strangely positioned ears, and ET fingers.
The real beauty is in the intricate designs. It's a jungle of snails, coils and intertwined snakes, yes, small-headed snakes popping up here and there. The monks mixed Christian symbols (crosses, peacocks, vines) with pagan Celtic motifs (circles, spirals and interlocking motifs) from the surrounding world. All are carefully drawn in pencil in bright colors: blue, purple, red, green, yellow and black. Only two of the 680 pages of the book are unadorned.
As Christianity began to take hold in Europe, monasteries everywhere began to produce similar monastic manuscripts, albeit less than the Book of Kells. In 1455 Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press, books became a commodity ... and thousands of monks were freed from the civilization of the scribes.