Art on the Ceiling
Ceiling in the Zinna monastery
With my fellow employees I visited the Monastery of Zinna in the Mark Brandenburg, a region 1 and a half hour by bus away from Berlin. In the Middle Ages it was a very known monastery, inhabited by cistercian monks. They were known for their simple life, nothing but work and pray (Ora et labora in latin).
This ceiling above is in the abbot’s chapel. It is very ornamental, without any persons or saints on it. But it sure tells a story – the problem is, today we can’t read those kind of stories anymore. In the Middle Ages, people used to tell stories by using pictures, and everybody knew how to “read” them.
For me, the ceiling is telling about the paradise – the birds, the flowers, the plants. What are you “reading” ?
7 responses to “Art on the Ceiling”
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Ulla Hennig's Weblog 
I don’t know what exactly it speaks of but what I find really interesting is that everything is somehow connected. There might be some meaning in there.
Oh this is a lovely ceiling and photograph. Thank you for sharing such a nice photograph. I wish I knew all the stories too. I heard a story about a man who was building a great Cathedral and was just a lowly worker when the Bishop in charge of construction saw the fellow craving a lovely flower in the highest beam of the ceiling joist. The Bishop said to the worker, that is a stunning flower, but the ceiling will overlap that beam and no one will see your beautiful carving. The worker replied,”God will”. With that the Bishop declared it a prayer and left the worker to continue on with his work.
In my house the ceiling was covered in orange and green nasturtium wall paper when I move in. I took pictures also and have since removed the ceiling to find lovely cedar beams above what was a false ceiling. I wonder about that story too! 🙂 Thank you for sharing your lovely vision.
Beautiful, Ulla, though it looks somehow Mideastern to me… I love reading stained glass windows, the older the better. The emotion and drama are very powerful.
Ulla,
I saw your comment in Brad’s post…thanks for subscribing. I’ve added you to my Live Bookmarks toolbar. 🙂
I love blogging for the connections, the community.
That is really lovely. I think I see ‘beauty in simplicity’. I looked more at the technique and the simple design. Gorgeous!
I’m looking up at my bedroom ceiling now… Why not?
😉
Sean
This is why I want to travel. There is not enough beauty, outside the tremendous weather, in Southern California.