Marian Tabernacles on Main Altars. Norwegian Thirteenth-Century Altar Decorations in Their European Context

Abstract

Art historical research often assumes that sculptures of the Virgin Mary originally stood on the northern nave altar in Scandinavian parish churches. However, evidence suggests that several enshrined Marian sculptures actually had their place on the main altar in the chancel. This claim can be reconstructed with regard to the surviving tabernacle shrines in (and from) the small Norwegian parish churches of Hedalen, Reinli, and Hove. In addition to the shrines, a number of altar frontals with Marian imagery also probably belonged to main altars. Seen in their wider European context, these Norwegian altar decorations follow a homogenous pattern, common to large parts of Western Europe, that may be explained by the rise of a unified religious culture in aspects such as liturgy and theology. On the main altar, the Virgin and Child constituted the focal point of the church interior. This prominent position reflects the central role of the Mother of God in the history of salvation as an instrument of the Incarnation. On the main altar, Mary refers to this Christian mystery, through her image as well as in the narrative scenes shown on the inside of the wings that surrounded the sculpture.