Niebieska Jerozolima – temat biblijny w sztuce

Abstract

The Heavenly Jerusalem is a topic which can hardly be separated from the books of the Old and New Testament. The following article aims at showing the relationship between the semblance of the historical Jerusalem and representations of the Holy City of the eschatological times in different arts. After the decline of the Kingdom of Israel and Judah, after the destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple, most of the Jewish were taken captives by the Babylonians. Representations of Yahweh sanctuary and of the ideal Jerusalem (not a real one), created in captivity, made up for the loss of both homeland and the Temple. Ideals, kept alive and cherished by the prophets, were due to come true in the future. Unfortunately, reality ruined the dreams. Their fulfillment had to be transferred into the eschatological times. In particular, when the Temple, rebuilt on the return from captivity, turned into ruins again as a result of the Jewish uprising against the Roman Empire in 70 A. D. New Christian communities resumed some trends of the Judaic tradition concerning the Heavenly Jerusalem, but filled them with new substance. The Heavenly Jerusalem, presented mainly in the Book of Apocalypse by St. John, the Apostle, became the representation of the Church – the bride of the Lamb in the eschatological times. The artists of different epochs turned to those visions from St. John’s Book of Revelation, as well as to the image of the historical Jerusalem, in order to present the heavenly life of the future by means of some earthly forms. To show that, the artists made use of the ideal structure of a temple, town and state, which had its counterparts in painting and craft, too. What they used as well was the exegesis of the Apocalypse and the accounts given by pilgrims and participants of the crusades to the Holy Land.