Alsfeld No. 1
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Results: 82 records
B01: New Testament - Childhood and youth of Christ - Annunciation - Mary to the left, Gabriel to the right - detail
Scene Description: Mary and Gabriel
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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B01: New Testament - Childhood and youth of Christ - Annunciation - Mary to the left, Gabriel to the right - detail
Scene Description: Mary and Gabriel
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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B01: New Testament - Childhood and youth of Christ - Annunciation - Mary to the left, Gabriel to the right - detail
Scene Description: Gabriel holds a flower; the wing is clearly visible on his back
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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B01: New Testament - Childhood and youth of Christ - Annunciation - Mary to the left, Gabriel to the right - detail
Scene Description: Mary on the left, perhaps holding a scroll, or book on a lectern?
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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B01: New Testament - Childhood and youth of Christ - Annunciation - Mary to the left, Gabriel to the right
![[cf. FontNotes]](/static-50478a99ec6f36a15d6234548c59f63da52304e5/compressed/1171126080_compressed.png)
Scene Description: [cf. FontNotes]
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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B01: New Testament - Childhood and youth of Christ - Annunciation - Mary at the well - detail
![the woman is bending down and appears to collect water from the well below [large cricle below ground level] with a bucket --scene from the 2ndC non-canonical Protoevangelium of James: Gabriel appears to Mary as she draws water from the well -- alternate interpretation: Good Samaritan and "jakobsbrunnen" [cf. FontNotes]](/static-50478a99ec6f36a15d6234548c59f63da52304e5/compressed/1171126073_compressed.png)
Scene Description: the woman is bending down and appears to collect water from the well below [large cricle below ground level] with a bucket --scene from the 2ndC non-canonical Protoevangelium of James: Gabriel appears to Mary as she draws water from the well -- alternate interpretation: Good Samaritan and "jakobsbrunnen" [cf. FontNotes]
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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B01: New Testament - Childhood and youth of Christ - Annunciation - Mary at the well
Scene Description: scene from the 2ndC non-canonical Protoevangelium of James: Gabriel appears to Mary as she draws water from the well
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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B02: New Testament - Childhood and youth of Christ - three Wise Men - adoration of the kings - one magus
Scene Description: there is an inscription carved on the inside of the arch-head; two crosses have been carved on the stone to the right of Mary's head, probably later additions
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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B03: sacrament - baptism - detail
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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B03: sacrament - baptism
![interpreted alternatively elsewhere as the Presentation at the temple [cf. FontNotes] but it is hard not to recognise the baptismal font on which the priest is officiating](/static-50478a99ec6f36a15d6234548c59f63da52304e5/compressed/1171126088_compressed.png)
Scene Description: interpreted alternatively elsewhere as the Presentation at the temple [cf. FontNotes] but it is hard not to recognise the baptismal font on which the priest is officiating
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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B04: New Testament - Public life of Christ - baptism of Christ
![[cf. FontNotes]](/static-50478a99ec6f36a15d6234548c59f63da52304e5/compressed/1171126097_compressed.png)
Scene Description: [cf. FontNotes]
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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B05: New Testament - events from Resurrection to Pentecost - Resurrection of Christ - Christ rises from the grave - with cross
Scene Description: alternative interpretation: New Testament - Public life of Christ - Good Samaritan and "jakobsbrunnen"
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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BBL03: animal - unidentified
Scene Description: the scaly tail to the right; another reptilian?
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © GFreihalter, 2012
Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 31 May 2012 by GFreihalter [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alsfeld_Walpurgiskirche_Taufstein_239.JPG] [accessed 15 April 2014]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0
BBL04: design element - motifs - circle or roundel
![located beneath the sixth arch; the break in the moulding appears to be damage rather than intentionally there to link it to the upper scene [cf. FontNotes] -- to the left the possible tail of a reptilian facing left; to the right the hind quarters of one of the two faing beasts [lions?]](/static-50478a99ec6f36a15d6234548c59f63da52304e5/compressed/1140415015_compressed.png)
Scene Description: located beneath the sixth arch; the break in the moulding appears to be damage rather than intentionally there to link it to the upper scene [cf. FontNotes] -- to the left the possible tail of a reptilian facing left; to the right the hind quarters of one of the two faing beasts [lions?]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © GFreihalter, 2012
Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 31 May 2012 by GFreihalter [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alsfeld_Walpurgiskirche_Taufstein_242.JPG] [accessed 15 April 2014]
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view of font
Scene Description: baptism sacrament in the left arche; Baptism of Christ in the Jordan in the right arch
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Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 27 June 1997 by BSI
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view of font - upper view
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of font
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of font
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of font
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of font
Scene Description: the Annunciation to Mary in the centre arch; Gabriel to the right, the wing visible behind his back
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © GFreihalter, 2012
Image Source: digital photograph taken 31 May 2012 by GFreihalter [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alsfeld_Walpurgiskirche_Taufstein_238.JPG] [accessed 15 April 2014]
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design element - architectural - arcade - round arches - double arches - columns with capitals and bases
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 27 June 1997 by BSI
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view of basin - detail
view of basin - detail
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of basin - detail
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of basin - detail
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of basin - detail
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of basin - detail
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of basin - detail
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of basin - detail
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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animal - unidentified
Scene Description: seen here on the left: crocodile-like head with long mandible; a reptilian? the location is just below and to the left of Christ's feet in the Baptism in the Jordan scene
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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inscription - detail
Scene Description: on the arch above the Adoration of the Magi scene
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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animal - mammal - unidentified - 2 - confronted
Scene Description: beneath the scene of the Annunciation
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of basin - detail
Scene Description: the holes and damage to the upper side of the basin above theAnnunciation (left) and Adoration of the Magi (right) scenes
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of basin - detail
Scene Description: the Annunciation on the left; Madonna and Child on the right as part of the Adoration of the Magi scene
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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inscription - detail
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view of basin - detail
Scene Description: the holes are probably related to the anchorings of an old cover
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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inscription - detail
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inscription - detail
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inscription - detail
Scene Description: much of it badly eroded or broken off
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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design element - architectural - arcade - round arches - columns with capitals and bases
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of building exterior - detail
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of building exterior - detail
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of building exterior - detail
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of building exterior - detail
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of building exterior - detail
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of church exterior - tombstone
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of church exterior - tombstone
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of church exterior - detail
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of church exterior - detail
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of church exterior - detail
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of church exterior - detail
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of church exterior - south portal
Scene Description: one of two
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of church exterior - west tower - north view
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of church exterior - northeast view - detail
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of church exterior - detail
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of church exterior - detail
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of church exterior - detail
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of church exterior - detail
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of church exterior - south view - detail
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of church exterior - southwest end
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of church exterior in context
Scene Description: the church at the end of Fachwerkstraße
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Oliver Abels, 2007
Image Source: digital photograph taken 15 June 2007 by Oliver Abels [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alsfeld_-_Fachwerkstra%C3%9Fe_2.jpg] [accessed 15 April 2014]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0
view of church exterior - south view
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Oliver Abels, 2007
Image Source: digital photograph taken 15 June 2007 by Oliver Abels [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alsfeld_-_Walpurgiskirche.jpg] [accessed 15 April 2014]
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view of church interior - monument
Scene Description: 17thC monument
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of font in context
view of church interior - nave - looking west
view of church interior - nave - detail
view of church interior - Holy Rood
view of church interior - chancel arch - detail
view of church interior - pulpit
view of church interior - monument
view of church interior - west end - detail
view of church interior - chancel and east end
Scene Description: there is a gallery in the chancel
view of church interior - west end - painting
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of church interior - west end - painting
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of church interior - west end - detail
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Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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view of church interior - west end - painting
Scene Description: ca. 1500? -- located at the west end, north side of the tower arch, beneath the organ
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © GFreihalter, 2012
Image Source: digital photograph taken 31 May 2012 by GFreihalter [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alsfeld_Walpurgiskirche_Wandmalerei_289.JPG] [accessed 15 April 2014]
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view of church interior - nave - looking west
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Wikiwal, 2011
Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 April 2011 by Wikiwal [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alsfeld_Walpurgiskirche_Orgel.jpg] [accessed 15 April 2014]
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view of church interior - nave - looking east
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Mario Becker, 2006
Image Source: digital photograph taken 10 October 2006 by Mario Becker [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alsfeld_Walpurgiskirche_Innenansicht1_Mario_Becker-Project-B-WW_20061010.jpg] [accessed 15 April 2014]
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information
Scene Description: Source caption: "The Samaritan at the well. Wall painting in the baptistry of the domus ecclesiae in Dura Europos" -- although traditionally identified as stated in the caption, this scene painted on the wall of the Dura Europos baptistery is identified by Peppard (2016) as Mary at the well, part of the Annunciation to Mary, as the scene in the Alsfeld font that shows a woman with a pail at a well. BSI concurs with Peppard's identification and suggests that the scene on the Alfeld's font sould also be identified as 'Mary at the well'.
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: digital photograph taken by 31 December 2005 by Marsyas [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dura_Baptistry_Samaritan.jpg] [accessed 30 November 2017]
Copyright Instructions: CC-PD-Mark / PD OldPD-Art (PD-old default) / PD-Art (PD-old)
information
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: field notes taken 25 June 1997 by BSI
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information
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: field notes taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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information
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: field notes taken 30 September 2017 by BSI
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INFORMATION
Font ID: 00137ALS
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Date Visited: 1997-06-27; 2017-09-30
Font Date: ca. 1150-1200?
Font Century and Period/Style: 12th century, Romanesque
Cognate Fonts: the font at Hopfgarten
Church / Chapel Name: Walpurgiskirche
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, S side of the nave, W of the apse and choir
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Walpurga?
Church Notes: an early-Romanesque is believed to have existed here since the 9th or 10thC; the present church dates to the late-13thC
Church Address: 36304 Alsfeld. Hesse, Germany
Site Location: Giessen, Hesse, Germany, Europe
Directions to Site: Located 33 km W of Bad Hersfeld, 36 km NW of Fulda, 50 km W of Giessen -- the church is located in the old historic centre of Alsfeld
Ecclesiastic Region: Bistum Mainz
Font Notes:
Click to view
Tub-shaped baptismal font of monolithic construction. There are lengthy inscriptions on the flat moulding above the arcade that surounds the basin sides: "In principio facit Deus caelum et terram" (1.Mos 1,1) and "Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem". Around the basin sides, under the upper moulding, is an arcade of six round arches with double arch-heads resting on columns with capitals and bases; inside the arches are the following scenes: 1. Annunciation to the Virgin; 2. Virgin and Child enthroned with a figure kneeling and extending an offering to them [Adoration of the Magi?]; 3. Figure holding a child (?) over a baptismal font or altar (Sacrament of Baptism or Presentation at the Temple?); 4. Baptism of Christ: Christ to the left, cruciferous halo; John to the right without a halo; a bird [Holy Ghost] flying above the scene; 5-6. In the left arch (5) is a male figure wearing a cruciferous halo [Christ], seated (?) on a large rounded structure [tomb? / well?]; to the left of Christ is a large Latin cross; in the next arch to the right (6) is a female figure bent down at the waist who appears to be pouring something or picking up something; considering the two arches together this scene has been identified in some sources as The Samaritan and Jacob's "jakobsbrunnen" [alternatively, if the arches are considered separately, the fifth arch could de seen to represent Christ's Resurrection (?), which would leave the woman in the sixth arch without a reasonable identification; however, the woman is probably Virgin Mary in a scene from the 2nd-century non-canonical proto-evangelium of James: Gabriel appears to Mary at the well, an event not represented in the canonical gospels -- cf. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/opinion/sunday/is-this-the-oldest-image-of-the-virgin-mary.html?_r=0 [accessed 28 November 2017]. There is an identification of this scene, Mary at the well, in the house-church of Dura Eropos by Michael Peppard (2016); althouigh traditionally identified as the Samaritan woman, Peppard argues convincingly tha it is Mary in the Annunciation]. Right beneath the sixth arch, in the area of the lower basin below the thick broken moulding is a large ring or wheel; the rest of this lower level is occupied by a number [three?] of beasts, perhaps lions and reptiles. A brochure at the church has the following statement: " Im unteren ring sind drei Tiere (Leviatan) zu sehen. Sie gehoren zum ersten Dreierzyklus, zum sweiten Dreierzyklus gehort der fischreiche Jordan der zum jakobsbrunnen fliesst." On-site notes [visited twice: 1997 and 2017]: there is a large central drain in the bowl; no base is evident. The font appears to have been carved from limestone; too rough to be sandstone. There are two large holes in the upper edge of the bowl which indicates that a lid may have been present; this is also where the stone has broken away; the basin has cracked horizontally right through, and the upper half is further broken vertically; chunks of the upper rim are missing; a section of the lower end has been cut away leaving a tunnel-like gap beneath the scenes of the Adoration and the Baptism/Presentation.
[NB: a local source in Alsfeld referred to the stone from which the font is made as "Lungenstein", and when we asked for details he said the name derived from a quarry "stein aus Lungen", but we were unable to identify any such place with quarries nearby -- usually the German term 'Lungenstein' refers to 'intraalveoläre Corpora amylacea', a pulmonary calculus].
[NB: a local source in Alsfeld referred to the stone from which the font is made as "Lungenstein", and when we asked for details he said the name derived from a quarry "stein aus Lungen", but we were unable to identify any such place with quarries nearby -- usually the German term 'Lungenstein' refers to 'intraalveoläre Corpora amylacea', a pulmonary calculus].
COORDINATES
UTM: 32U 519139 5622204
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 50.7513, 9.2713
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 50° 45′ 4.68″ N, 9° 16′ 16.68″ E
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone, type unknown [cf. FontNotes]
Font Shape: tub-shaped, bucket-shaped, unmounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: round
Drainage System: centre hole in basin & base
Drainage Notes: no lining
Rim Thickness: 10-15 cm
Diameter (inside rim): 75-79 cm
Diameter (includes rim): 105-107 cm
Height of Basin Side: 69-73 cm
Basin Total Height: 90 cm
Font Height (less Plinth): 90 cm
Notes on Measurements: BSI on-site
INSCRIPTION
Inscription Language: Latin
Inscription Location: around the side of the basin, below the rim
Inscription Text: 1) "In principio facit Deus caelum et terram"
2) "Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem"
Inscription Notes: [cf. FontNotes]
Inscription Source: [local information at the church giving the German translation of the Latin text -- cf. FontNotes]
LID INFORMATION
Notes: [cf. FontNotes]
REFERENCES
- Peppard, Michael, The World's Oldest Church: Bible, Art, and Ritual at Dura-Europos, Syria, 2016, p. 155-201 and fig. 5.1