Thursday, August 30, 2018

ITALY ~ Sword in Stone - Chapel of Montesiepi ~

... Beautiful small round Gothic chapel view with Italy's own "Sword in stone"... a place of magic and myth that originated in the Middle Ages... all the legends about this sword are very impressive... as most of us I only knew about the King Arthur’s one... but the only existing original sword in the stone, in the whole world can be seen in Italy... when the noble knight Galgano Guidotti decided to dedicate his life to God, he sticked his sword into this rock to symbolize peace and redemption...  now it was no longer a weapon, but rather, the symbol of the Cross...  and nobody has pulled it out yet... once more a fantastic story discovered thanks to postcard collecting😊...
Thanks a lot Gian Luca and Raffaella!!(✿ ♥‿♥)→  https://73postcards73.blogspot.com/
Ⓒ Photo: Luciano Mugnaini

This Tuscany’s abbey of Saint Galgano was built in a Gothic Italian style between the towns of Monticiano and Chiusdino in the province of Siena and was built  between 1218 and 1268.

Near the abbey there’s the Montesiepi Chapel with the sword of the rock of San Galgano.The chapel to the left of the altar houses frescoes by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, a major painter of the Senese school of the 14thC.

To mark the change from his past life, Galgano thrust his sword into a rock (1180) promising to God he would never again raise his weapon against anyone. The news of the miracle of the ‘Sword in the Stone’ quickly spread around Siena, and pilgrims soon began to flock to Montesiepi to ask Galgano to perform other miracles (at least 18 have been documented).

Recent studies appeared to have confirmed that the sword dates indeed to the late 1100s–early 1200s. To protect it from theft, the sword is now protected by a case.

Stamp:

Italian Squares
(Issued 02-07-2016)

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