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Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

2025-11-03T16:44:38Z

2600:4040:45AC:9300:E8FA:EB83:D837:CFE1: /* See also */

{{More citations needed|date=October 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox church
| name = Memorial Church
| fullname = Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
| other name =
| native_name = Gedächtniskirche
| native_name_lang = Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche
| image = Gedächtniskirche1.JPG
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Ruin of the imperial church, not rebuilt as a reminder of [[World War II]] – the modern church's belfry, built in 1963, is visible to the right.
| pushpin map =
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| coordinates = {{coord|52|30|18|N|13|20|06|E|display=title,inline}}
| location = [[Breitscheidplatz]] {{Flag|Berlin}} {{Flag|Germany}}
| denomination = [[Evangelical Church in Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia]]
| website = {{URL|gedaechtniskirche-berlin.de}}
| founded date =
| founder =
| dedication =
| dedicated date =
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| status =
| functional status =
| heritage designation =
| designated date =
| architect = [[Franz Heinrich Schwechten|Franz Schwechten]] (original) [[Egon Eiermann]] (current)
| architectural type =
| style = [[Romanesque Revival architecture|Neo-Romanesque]] (original) [[Modern architecture|Modernist]] (current)
| years built = 1891–1906 (original) 1959–1963 (current)
| groundbreaking =
| completed date =
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| capacity =
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}}

The '''Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church''' ({{langx|de|Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche}}), mostly known simply as the '''Memorial Church''' (German: ''Gedächtniskirche'' {{IPA|de|ɡəˈdɛçtnɪsˈkɪʁçə|}}) is a [[Protestant]] church affiliated with the [[Evangelical Church in Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia]], a [[Landeskirche|regional body]] of the [[Protestant Church in Germany]]. It is located in [[Berlin]] on the [[Kurfürstendamm]] in the centre of the [[Breitscheidplatz]].

The original church on the site was built in the 1890s. It was badly damaged in a bombing raid in 1943. The present building, which consists of a church with an attached foyer and a separate [[belfry (architecture)|belfry]] with an attached chapel, was built between 1959 and 1963. The damaged spire of the old church has been retained and its ground floor has been made into a memorial hall.

The Memorial Church today is a famous landmark of western Berlin, and is nicknamed by Berliners ''"der hohle Zahn"'', meaning "the hollow tooth".

== Old church ==
[[File:Emperor Wilhelm's Memorial Church (Berlin, Germany).jpg|thumb|The old church around 1900]]
[[File:Mosaic in Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.png|thumb|Mosaic in surviving portion of the old church]]
The construction of the church was part of a Protestant church-building programme initiated by [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Kaiser Wilhelm II]] and his consort [[Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein|Augusta Victoria]] to counter the German [[labour movement]] and [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|socialist]] movement by a return to traditional religious values. Wilhelm II decided to name the church in honor of his grandfather [[Wilhelm I, German Emperor|Kaiser Wilhelm I]].<ref name=g18>Gerlach, p. 18.</ref> The competition for the design was won by [[Franz Heinrich Schwechten|Franz Schwechten]], member of the [[Bauakademie]] who had distinguished himself with the design of the [[Berlin Anhalter Bahnhof|Anhalter Bahnhof]]. Schwechten, a native [[Rhineland]]er, planned for a large church to be built in a [[Romanesque Revival architecture|Neo-Romanesque]] style modelled on the [[Bonn Minster]] with a [[Tuff]] stone facade. His design included {{convert|2740|m2|sqft}} of wall [[mosaic]], a {{convert|113|m|ft}}-high spire (now 71 metres, or 233 ft) and a nave which seated over 2,000 people.<ref name=g18/>

The foundation stone was laid on 22 March 1891, which was Wilhelm I's birthday.<ref name=g38>Gerlach, p. 38.</ref> The church was dedicated on 1 September 1895,<ref name=g38/> the eve of the [[Sedantag|Day of Sedan]]. At that time, the entrance hall in the lower section had not yet been completed; that part of the church was not opened and consecrated until 22 February 1906.<ref>Gerlach, pp. 23, 38.</ref> Construction costs mounted to 6.8 million [[German gold mark|gold mark]], raised primarily through donations. The church design, quite unfamiliar in the [[Province of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]] region, inspired several architectural projects in the surrounding area, like the ''[[Romanisches Café]]'' building, also designed by Schwechten.

In [[World War II]], on the night of 23 November 1943, the church was extensively damaged [[Battle of Berlin (RAF campaign)|in an air raid]].<ref name=g18/> Yet it was by no means beyond repair. A remnant of the spire and much of the entrance hall survived intact, as did the altar and the baptistry.<ref>Gerlach, p. 23.</ref> After the war, in 1947, the curatorium of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche foundation (Stiftung) decided in favor of rebuilding the church, but the manner in which this should be done was contentiously debated until the late 1950s.<ref name="Falser">Falser, Michael S. (2009). "[https://books.google.com/books?id=LSdfKUJgsCsC&pg=PA71 Trauerarbeit an Ruinen – Kategorien des Wiederaufbaus nach 1945]" {{in lang|de}}. In: Michael Braum and Ursula Baus (Eds.), ''Rekonstruktion in Deutschland: Positionen zu einem umstrittenen Thema''. Basel: Birkhäuser. {{ISBN|978-3-0346-0067-5}}. p. 60–97; here: p. 71.</ref> In a two-phased design competition in 1956, the question of whether the secured remnant of the spire should be torn down or preserved was left open.<ref name="Falser"/> The competition's winner, architect [[Egon Eiermann]], initially proposed, in both his submissions, for the remnant of the old spire to be torn down, in favor of a completely new construction<ref name="Falser"/> but that plan provoked a public outcry in which the ruined tower was characterized as the "heart of Berlin"; as a result Eiermann revised the design to preserve the tower.<ref name="Falser"/> He had most of the remaining structure pulled down, in order to build the modern church that now occupies most of the site.

== New church ==
[[File:Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche Berlin Germany - panoramio (3).jpg|thumb|Exterior of the new church]]
[[File:00 0501 Neue Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kirche in Berlin.jpg|thumb|Interior of the new church]]
The new church was designed by Eiermann and consists of four buildings grouped around the remaining ruins of the old church. The initial design included the demolition of the spire of the old church but following pressure from the public, it was decided to incorporate it into the new design.<ref>Gerlach, pp. 2, 4.</ref> The four buildings comprise, on the west of the ruins, the new church with a foyer to its west, and to the east of the ruins, a tower with a chapel to its northeast. The plan of the church is octagonal while the plan of the tower is hexagonal. These components are sited on a plateau measuring 100 metres long and 40 metres wide. The new buildings are constructed of concrete, steel and glass.<ref>Gerlach, pp. 4–5</ref> The walls of the church are made of a concrete honeycomb containing 21,292 stained glass inlays. The glass, designed by [[Gabriel Loire]], was inspired by the colours of the glass in [[Cathedral of Chartres|Chartres Cathedral]]. The predominant colour is blue, with small areas of ruby red, emerald green and yellow. The church is 35 metres in diameter and 20.5 metres high with a capacity of over 1,000.<ref>Gerlach, p. 6.</ref> Because of the distinctive appearance of the new buildings, it is sometimes nicknamed {{Lang|de|Lippenstift und Puderdose}} (the [[lipstick]] and the [[Compact (cosmetics)|powder box]]) by Berliners,<ref>Wiethoff, Tobias (5 September 2003). "[http://www.spiegel.de/reise/staedte/berliner-kirchen-lippenstift-und-puderdose-a-247172.html Berliner Kirchen: Lippenstift und Puderdose]" {{in lang|de}}. ''[[Spiegel Online]]''. Retrieved 20 December 2016.</ref> or alternatively "the gasometer" and "the factory chimney".<ref>{{Cite news |date=5 August 1961 |title=Unsual Photographs - No. 109: "Gasometer" and "Chimney" |work=[[The Illustrated London News]] |page=229}}</ref>

Inside the church, opposite the entrance, a figure of the resurrected Christ is suspended above the altar. This is made from [[Tombac|tombak]] and was designed by Karl Hemmeter. The cross on the altar, by Peter Tauchnitz, is of gilt silver with 37 rock crystals. To the left of the altar is the [[baptismal font]] on a stand filled with [[Carrara marble]] which contains a [[Maiolica|majolica]] bowl for the [[holy water]]. To the right of the altar is an octagonal [[pulpit]].<ref>Gerlach, pp. 8–9</ref> Opposite the altar on a gallery is an organ containing about 5,000 pipes, which was built by [[Karl Schuke]]. [[Acrylic glass|Plexiglas]] panels have been installed over the organ gallery to improve the [[acoustics]].<ref>Gerlach, p. 10.</ref> By the northeast wall of the church are three works of art. The first is a bronze plaque commemorating the Protestant martyrs who died during the [[Nazism|Nazi]] regime between 1933 and 1945. It incorporates a Spanish wooden [[crucifix]] dating from the 13th century. The plaque was placed in the church on 20 July 1964, the 20th anniversary of [[20 July Plot|an attempt to assassinate Hitler]]. Next to this is the ''[[Stalingrad Madonna]]'', a symbol of hope and reconciliation. This is a [[charcoal]] drawing made by Kurt Reuber during the time he was trapped inside [[Volgograd|Stalingrad]] at Christmas 1942. Copies of this drawing have been sent to [[Coventry Cathedral]] and the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] in Stalingrad (now Volgograd). The third item of art is an [[icon]] of the [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Virgin Mary]] from Volgograd.<ref>Gerlach, pp. 10, 12.</ref>

The tower is 12 metres in diameter and 53.5 metres high with a flat roof. Atop the tower is a pole carrying a gilded sphere above which is a gilded cross. It contains a belfry with six bronze bells cast from French [[cannon]], [[Treasure|booty]] from the [[Franco-Prussian War]] of 1870–71.<ref>Gerlach, p. 14.</ref> The foundation stone of the new church was laid on 9 May 1959, its roofing ceremony was carried out on 16 December 1960, the new bells were consecrated on 19 July 1961, the new church was consecrated on 17 December 1961 and the foyer and chapel were completed in December 1963.<ref name=g38/>
[[File:Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche in the 1950s.jpg|thumb|The old church in the 1950s]]

==Bells of the new church==
{{Cleanup|date=October 2023|reason=No sources, unclear sentences|section}}
In 1894, Kaiser Wilhelm II donated 50,000 pounds of bronze from captured cannons to cast a new bell for the church. Five bells were made in the same year in the Franz Schilling court bell foundry in [[Apolda]]. The largest bell or [[Bourdon (bell)|bourdon]] is named Queen Luise & Kaiser Wilhelm I and it weighs 13,230 kg. The bell was the largest of its kind in Germany. When the bells arrived in Berlin on 1 June 1895, they were driven through the city in a ceremonial procession and consecrated on 18 June by General Superintendent Faber. Before a bell was installed around 1900, around 20 bell ringers were needed to get the whole bell ringing. After World War I the bells were free, but a few decades later they were no longer so lucky. Between 1942 and 1943 the larger bells were removed for melting down for wartime purposes, while the smallest was allowed to remain on the tower as a ringing bell. When the church went down in a hail of bombs in November 1943, the last remaining bell was severely damaged. In 1949 they were sent back to Apolda. The bell's further fate is unknown, but it can be assumed that it was melted down. However, the ruins of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church were not to remain entirely without bells. In 1954, three iron bells were ordered from the Franz Weeren iron works, which were to serve as clock strike bells from then on. For a long time they did not do their job, because in the course of the new construction of the church a correspondingly representative ringing was desired. In 1960 the time had come: at the Rincker bell and art foundry in Sinn, a 6-part bell and a [[carillon]] were created for the old tower. On 24 December 1960, two of the three iron bells were installed at the [[:de:Philipp-Melanchthon-Kirche (Berlin-Neukölln)|Philipp Melanchthon Church]] in Berlin's [[Neukölln (locality)|Neukölln]] quarter;<ref>Kurt Kramer, ''Die Glocke und ihr Geläute'', Munich 1990, p. 51; [https://facettenneukoelln.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/phil-mel_chronik.pdf "Philipp-Melanchton-Kirche: Chronik"], ''Facetten-Magazin Neukölln'', Berlin 2013.</ref> what happened to the third is unknown. On 19 July 1961 the new bells and the newly built [[campanile]] were inaugurated and put into operation. The bell's sound is affected by its clearly progressive rib, and from the tower's acoustics. The bells were inscribed with bible verses.

Different bells are rung on different occasions:
*Devotions, family worship, baptisms and marriages: Bells 6, 5 and 4
*Organ Vespers and funerals: Bells 6, 5, 4 and 3
*Sunday worship: Bells 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2
*Festive services: All bells (6–1)

{| class="wikitable"
! style="background-color:#dddddd;" | Number<ref>Kurt Kramer: ''Die Glocke und ihr Geläute''. 3. Aufl., DKV, Munich 1990, p. 51, {{ISBN|3-422-06066-9}}.</ref>
!Name
! style="background-color:#dddddd;" | Year cast
! style="background-color:#dddddd;" | Foundry
! style="background-color:#dddddd;" | Diameter (mm)
! style="background-color:#dddddd;" | Weight (kg)
! style="background-color:#dddddd;" | Note ([[Semitone|ST]]–{{frac|1|16}})
! style="background-color:#dddddd;" | Inscription (German)
!Inscription (English)
|-----
| 1
|Queen Louise – Emperor Wilhelm I ([[Bourdon (bell)|Bourdon Bell]])|| rowspan="6" |1960 || rowspan="6"|Glocken- und Kunstgießerei Rincker, Sinn || align="right" |2140 || align="right"|5740 || '''g0''' +1 || ''Eure Städte sind mit Feuer verbrannt'' ''Aber mein Heil bleibt ewiglich, und meine Gerechtigkeit wird kein Ende haben''
|Your cities were charred by fire'.Yet my salvation remains eternal, and my righteousness will have no end
|-----
| 2
|Augusta|| align="right" |1818 || align="right"|3593 || '''b0''' +3 || {{lang|de|Er vergilt uns nicht nach unserer Missetat}}
|He does not repay us according to our iniquities'
|-----
| 3
|Germany|| align="right" |1648 || align="right"|2854 || '''c1''' +4 || {{lang|de|Gott, dein Weg ist heilig}}
|God, your way is holy
|-----
| 4
|Emperor Frederick|| align="right" |1473 || align="right"|2000 || '''d1''' +4 || {{lang|de|Hilf deinem Volk und segne dein Erbe}}
|Help your people and bless your inheritance
|-----
| 5
|Wilhelm II – Auguste Viktoria|| align="right" |1405 || align="right"|1807 || '''e♭1''' +4 || {{lang|de|So sind wir nun Botschafter an Christi Statt; denn Gott vermahnt durch uns; so bitten wir an Christi Statt: Lasset euch versöhnen mit Gott!}}
|We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God!'
|-----
| 6
| || align="right" |1279 || align="right"|1453 || '''f1''' +3 || {{lang|de|Seid fleißig zu halten die Einigkeit im Geist durch das Band des Friedens}}
|Be steadfast to uphold the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace
|}

==Spire and memorial hall==
[[File:16-142a Coventry Cross.jpg|thumb|upright|Cross of nails from [[Coventry Cathedral]]]]
[[File:Berlin, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, 2014-07 CN-03.jpg|thumb|Upper part with Quadriga – interior – preserved mosaic]]
The entrance hall in the base of the damaged spire was reopened to visitors, having been consecrated on 7 January 1987.<ref name=g38/> Its floor contains a mosaic of the [[Michael (archangel)|Archangel Michael]] fighting the [[dragon]]. The vault shows a procession of [[House of Hohenzollern|Hohenzollern]] princes, designed by [[Hermann Schaper (painter)|Hermann Schaper]], and includes a depiction of [[Wilhelm, German Crown Prince|Crown Prince Wilhelm]] who never became king after his father, Wilhelm II, abdicated the throne in 1918.<ref name="Evangelische Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirchengemeinde Berlin">{{cite web | title=Kirchengebäude | website=Evangelische Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirchengemeinde Berlin | url=https://www.gedaechtniskirche-berlin.de/page/2145/kirchengeb%C3%A4ude-gedenkhalle | language=de | access-date=27 May 2021}}</ref> Other mosaics show important monarchs in medieval Germany, [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] thinkers and Reformation princes. [[Bas-relief]] sculptures illustrate scenes from biblical stories (Jacob wrestling with the angel, Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, and the [[pietà]]), scenes from the life of Kaiser Wilhelm I and symbolic figures representing war and peace.<ref>Gerlach, pp. 24–32</ref> In the north apse are 16 display panels which tell the story of the old church and its destruction. At the opposite end of the hall are three items which symbolise the history of the church. In the middle is a damaged statue of Christ which originally stood on the altar of the old church. To its right is the [[Coventry Cross of Nails|Cross of Nails]] which was made from nails in the roof timbers of [[Coventry Cathedral]], which had been severely damaged in a German air raid on 14 November 1940. To the left of the statue of Christ is an icon cross{{clarify|reason=What is an "icon cross"?|date=April 2021}} which was given by the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] and handed over in 1988. Outside the hall are four [[sandstone]] figures made by Stefan Kaehne.<ref name=g3438>Gerlach, pp. 34–38.</ref>

In December 2007, Charles Jeffrey Gray, a former British pilot who carried out World War II bombing raids over Germany, joined a campaign to rescue the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church from decay. After reading about the condition of the Church, Gray contacted Wolfgang Kuhla, the chairman of the church's advisory board, urging that its tower be restored. In response, a fund was launched to help raise the costs of its repair.<ref>[http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/features/article_1381421.php/Former_British_WWII_pilot_fights_to_save_Berlin_church Former British World War II pilot fights to save Berlin church] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090307175722/http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/features/article_1381421.php/Former_British_WWII_pilot_fights_to_save_Berlin_church |date=7 March 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/sep/15/germany|title=Germany: Berlin's 'Hollow Tooth' church may be forced to close, officials warn|last=Smee|first=Jess|date=14 September 2008|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=18 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-sep-14-adfg-church14-story.html|title=Berlin landmark of WWII is in dire need of benefactors|last=Reid|first=Crystal R.|date=14 September 2008|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=18 August 2018|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.morgenpost.de/printarchiv/berlin/article103335508/Englischer-Bomberpilot-loeste-die-Spendenaktion-aus.html#|title=Englischer Bomberpilot löste die Spendenaktion aus|last=Schmiemann|first=Brigitte|access-date=18 August 2018|language=de-DE}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Battle of Berlin (RAF campaign)]]
* [[Bombing of Berlin in World War II]]
* [[Coventry Blitz]]

==References==

===Notes===
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite book | last=Gerlach | first=Erwin | last2=Beyer | first2=Constantin | title=Berlin, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche |publisher=Schnell & Steiner | publication-place=Regensburg | date=2001 | isbn=978-3-7954-6078-5 | oclc=76489888 | language=de}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*{{official website|http://www.gedaechtniskirche-berlin.de/}} {{in lang|de}}
*[https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&ie=UTF8&z=18&ll=52.504934,13.334886&spn=0.001646,0.005359&t=k&om=1 Aerial view] on [[Google Maps]]

{{Visitor attractions in Berlin}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1906 establishments in Germany]]
[[Category:Churches completed in 1906]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Berlin destroyed during World War II]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf]]
[[Category:Charlottenburg]]
[[Category:Church ruins in Germany|Berlin Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church]]
[[Category:United Protestant church buildings in Berlin]]
[[Category:Heritage sites in Berlin]]
[[Category:Religious buildings and structures in Berlin]]
[[Category:Ruins of churches destroyed during World War II|Berlin Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church]]
[[Category:World War II sites in Germany|Berlin Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church]]
[[Category:Ruins in Berlin]]
[[Category:Octagonal buildings in Germany]]
[[Category:Wilhelm II]]
[[Category:Monuments and memorials to Emperor William I]]
[[Category:Romanesque Revival church buildings in Germany]]
[[Category:Octagonal churches]]

Kurfürstendamm

2025-11-03T16:37:44Z

2600:4040:45AC:9300:E8FA:EB83:D837:CFE1: /* History */

{{Short description|Street avenue in Berlin, Germany}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{For|the underground station|Kurfürstendamm (Berlin U-Bahn)}}
{{Infobox street
| name = Kurfürstendamm
| image = Berlin - Kürfurstendamm Gehsteig.jpg
| image_size =
| image_alt = Restaurants on the Kurfürstendamm
| image_map =
| caption = Restaurants on the Kurfürstendamm
| former_names = {{ubl|''(unnamed)''|{{small|(1542–{{circa|1767}})}}|{{lang|de|Churfürsten Damm}}|{{small|(by {{circa|1767)}}}}}}
| part_of =
| namesake = {{ubl|[[Joachim II Hector]],|[[Prince-elector]] of [[Margraviate of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]]}}
| type = [[Avenue (landscape)|Avenue]] / [[Boulevard]]
| owner =
| maint =
| length = {{cvt|3500|m}}<ref name="b.de k">{{cite web |author1= |title=Kurfürstendamm |url=https://www.berlin.de/en/attractions-and-sights/3561166-3104052-kurfuerstendamm.en.html |website=berlin.de |publisher=[[State of Berlin]] |access-date=20 October 2024 |language=en}}</ref>
| length_m =
| length_km =
| length_ref =
| length_notes =
| width = {{cvt|53|m}}<ref name="b.de k"/>
| area =
| addresses =
| location = [[Berlin]], Germany
| quarter = [[Charlottenburg]], [[Wilmersdorf]], [[Halensee]], [[Grunewald (locality)|Grunewald]]
| postal_code =
| metro = {{ubl|{{ric|Berlin U-Bahn|U1|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin U-Bahn|U9|size=x12}} | [[Kurfürstendamm (Berlin U-Bahn)|Kurfürstendamm]] | {{ric|Berlin U-Bahn|U1|size=x12}} | [[Uhlandstraße (Berlin U-Bahn)|Uhlandstraße]] | {{ric|Berlin U-Bahn|U7|size=x12}} | [[Adenauerplatz (Berlin U-Bahn)|Adenauerplatz]] | {{ric|Berlin S-Bahn|S41|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin S-Bahn|S42|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin S-Bahn|S46|size=x12}} | [[Berlin-Halensee station|Halensee]]}}
| coordinates = {{coord|format=dms|region:DE-BE_type:landmark|display=i}}
| direction_a = East
| terminus_a = {{ubl|[[Tauentzienstraße]]|[[Breitscheidplatz]]}}
| direction_b = West
| terminus_b = {{ubl|{{ill|Rathenauplatz (Berlin)|de|lt=Rathenauplatz}}|Hubertusallee}}
| junction = {{ubl|{{ill|Rankestraße|de|Rankestraße (Berlin)}}|Joachimsthaler Platz|{{ill|Joachimsthaler Straße|de}}|{{ill|Fasanenstraße (Berlin)|de|lt=Fasanenstraße}}|{{ill|Uhlandstraße (Charlottenburg/Wilmersdorf)|de|lt=Uhlandstraße}}|{{ill|George-Grosz-Platz|de}}|{{ill|Olivaer Platz|de}}|Leibnizstraße|{{ill|Adenauerplatz (Berlin)|de|lt=Adenauerplatz}}|Lewishamstraße|Brandenburgische Straße|{{ill|Lehniner Platz|de}}|Agathe-Lasch-Platz|Joachim-Friedrich-Straße|{{ill|Henriettenplatz (Berlin)|de|lt=Henriettenplatz}}}}
| main_contractor =
| cost =
| references =
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| inauguration_date = {{Start date|1542}}
| demolition_date =
| designer =
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}}

The '''Kurfürstendamm''' ({{IPA|de|ˌkuːɐ̯fʏʁstn̩ˈdam|audio=De-Kurfürstendamm.ogg}}; colloquially '''{{lang|de|Ku'damm}}''', {{IPA|de|ˈkuːdam||De-Kudamm.ogg}};<ref name="ushmm-1931" /> {{langx|en|Prince Elector Embankment}}) is one of the most famous [[avenue (landscape)|avenues]] in [[Berlin]]. The street takes its name from the former {{lang|de|Kurfürsten}} ([[prince-elector]]s) of [[Margraviate of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]]. The broad, long [[boulevard]] can be considered the {{lang|fr|[[Champs-Élysées]]|italic=np}} of Berlin and is lined with shops, houses, hotels and restaurants. In particular, many [[Fashion design|fashion designers]] have their shops there, as well as several car manufacturers' show rooms.

==Description==
[[File:Kurfürstendamm 2003.JPG|thumb|left|View over Kurfürstendamm]]
The avenue includes four lines of [[platanus|plane trees]] and runs for {{convert|3.5|km|mi|abbr=on}}<ref name="b.de k"/> through the city. It branches off from the [[Breitscheidplatz]], where the ruins of the [[Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church]] stand, and leads southwestward up to the district of [[Grunewald (locality)|Grunewald]].

At the junction with {{lang|de|Joachimstaler Straße|italic=no}} it passes the [[Café Kranzler]], successor of the {{lang|de|Café des Westens|italic=no}}, a famous venue for artists and [[Bohemianism|bohémiens]] of the pre–World War I era. The [[Kurfürstendamm (Berlin U-Bahn)|Kurfürstendamm U-Bahn station]] and the [[Swissôtel Berlin]] can be found at the same junction. One block farther, near [[Uhlandstraße (Berlin U-Bahn)|Uhlandstraße U-Bahn station]], is the Hotel Bristol Berlin (formerly [[Kempinski]]) hotel as well as the {{lang|de|Theater am Kurfürstendamm|italic=no}}, at the site of a former exhibition hall of the [[Berlin Secession]] art association.

At [[Adenauerplatz (Berlin U-Bahn)|Adenauerplatz]] the boulevard reaches the district of [[Wilmersdorf]], where it passes the {{lang|de|[[Schaubühne]]|italic=no}} theatre on {{lang|de|Lehniner Platz|italic=no}}. The more sober western or "upper" end of the Kurfürstendamm is marked by the [[Berlin-Halensee railway station]] on the [[Berlin Ringbahn|Ringbahn]] line and the junction with the {{lang|de|[[Bundesautobahn 100]]|italic=no}} ({{lang|de|Stadtring}}) at the {{ill|Rathenauplatz (Berlin)|de|lt=Rathenauplatz}} roundabout, featuring the long-disputed 1987 "Beton Cadillacs" sculpture by [[Wolf Vostell]].

<gallery class="center" caption="Luxury Boutiques Kurfürstendamm">
File:Berlin - Kurfürstendamm 193-194.jpg|Versace Boutique
File:Berlin - Kurfürstendamm 57.jpg| Valentino
File:Berlin - Kurfürstendamm 185.jpg|Louis Vuitton Berlin
File:Berlin - Kurfürstendamm 188-189.jpg|Chanel Berlin
File:Berlin Kurfürstendamm 186.jpg|Prada Berlin
File:Berlin - Kurfürstendamm 190-192.jpg|Gucci Berlin
File:Berlin - Kurfürstendamm 58.jpg|Hermès Berlin
</gallery>

==History==
Unlike the adjacent streets, the Kurfürstendamm developed out of a historic [[corduroy road]] ({{langx|de|Damm}}) laid out by the Brandenburg margraves to reach the [[Grunewald (locality)|Grunewald]] hunting lodge, which was erected about 1542 at the behest of the [[House of Hohenzollern|Hohenzollern]] elector [[Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg|Joachim II Hector]]. Although the exact date of the building is unknown, an unnamed causeway leading from the [[Stadtschloss, Berlin|Stadtschloss]] through the swampy area between the settlements of Charlottenburg (then called ''Lietzow'') and Wilmersdorf to Grunewald is already depicted in a 1685 map. The name ''Churfürsten Damm'' was first mentioned between 1767 and 1787.<ref name=Sturickow>{{cite magazine|title=Vom Feldweg zum Boulevard |trans-title=From a Field Track to a Boulevard |language=German |first=Regina |last=Stürickow |magazine=[[Damals]] |volume=45 |issue=1 |year=2013 |pages=62–69}}</ref>
[[File:Berlin-Charlottenburg Postkarte 049.jpg|thumb|left|View to Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, 1916 postcard]]
[[File:Colloquial abbreviation for Kurfürstendamm shown in name of the Ku'Damm 101 hotel.jpg|thumb|left|Colloquial abbreviation for Kurfürstendamm shown in name of the Ku'Damm 101 hotel]]
From 1875 the former bridlepath was embellished as a boulevard with a breadth of {{convert|53|m|ft|abbr=on}} on the personal initiative of chancellor [[Otto von Bismarck]], who also proposed the building of the Grunewald mansions colony at its western end.<ref name="b.de k"/><ref name=Sturickow/> In 1882, [[Ernst Werner von Siemens]] presented his [[Elektromote]] trolley bus concept at an experimental track near Halensee station. The nearby Lunapark opened in 1909, then Europe's largest [[amusement park]], modelled on [[Coney Island]], where boxer [[Max Schmeling]] won his first title of a German Lightheavyweight Champion in 1926. After a long period of decline the park was finally closed in 1933. Large parts are today covered by the Stadtautobahn.
[[File:Berlin Kurfürstendamm 013033.jpg|thumb|Kurfürstendamm, 1937]]
[[File:Ku'Damm Bridge.jpg|thumb|Ku'Damm Bridge]]
In 1913 the new [[Marmorhaus]] cinema opened. A number of major film premieres were held here during the [[silent era]].

Especially during the "[[1920s Berlin|Golden Twenties]]" the Kurfürstendamm area of the "New West" was a centre of leisure and nightlife in Berlin, an era that ended with the [[Great Depression]] and the Nazi ''[[Machtergreifung]]'' in 1933. On Sep 12, 1931, radical antisemite, Nazi [[Wolf-Heinrich Graf von Helldorff]] organized a riot,<ref name=ushmm-1931/><ref>Dimitrov, G. (1934). The Reichstag Fire Trial: The Second Brown Book of the Hitler Terror. United Kingdom: Bodley. [https://books.google.com/books?id=aNk1AAAAIAAJ&q=riot p.214].</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1931-11-08 |title='NAZI' STORM LEADERS SENTENCED FOR RIOTS; Hitler's Legal Aide Defends Men Charged With Attacks on Jews, Denying Participation. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1931/11/08/archives/nazi-storm-leaders-sentenced-for-riots-hitlers-legal-aide-defends.html |access-date=2022-12-30 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Loberg |first=Molly |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8VBSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA263 |title=The Struggle for the Streets of Berlin: Politics, Consumption, and Urban Space, 1914–1945 |date=2018-03-29 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=263|isbn=978-1-108-28486-8 |language=en}}<blockquote>Officers hesitated to make arrests on Kurfürstendamm in 1935 because they had a new boss: Wolf-Heinrich von Helldorf. In his prior role as leader of the Berlin SA, Helldorf had instigated in September 1931 the very same kind of street violence that took place on Kurfürstendamm in July 1935. In 1931, he had faced criminal charges for his actions.</blockquote>
</ref> about a thousand men appeared from within the crowd on the streets and started attacking people whom they believed to be Jewish.<ref name=ushmm-1931>{{Cite web |title=The Rioter {{!}} 12 Years That Shook the World Podcast |url=https://www.ushmm.org/learn/podcasts-and-audio/12-years-that-shook-the-world/the-rioter |access-date=2022-12-29 |website=www.ushmm.org |language=en}}<blockquote>It’s Saturday night, September 12, 1931. Today is Rosh Hashanah— the Jewish New Year. In Berlin, people are out walking and socializing with friends on restaurant patios. Many have flocked to a popular boulevard they call Ku'damm, short for Kurfürstendamm. And just around the corner, Helldorff is ready to riot. He climbs into his open car, and starts driving down Ku’damm boulevard. Suddenly, his men — more rioters— appear out of nowhere...
Dr. Lindsay MacNeill:
About a thousand men basically appear from within the crowd on the streets and start attacking people.
Erin Harper:
That’s Dr. Lindsay MacNeill, a historian at the Museum.
Dr. Lindsay MacNeill:
They grab people who they think are Jewish. They scream at them and then they beat them. They scream things like “Germany awaken,” “Jews die.” So this is really violent and terrifying.</blockquote></ref>

On July 15, 1935, about 200 Nazi<ref>{{Cite news |last=TIMES |first=Wireless to THE NEW YORK |date=1935-07-16 |title=JEWS ARE BEATEN BY BERLIN RIOTERS; CAFES ARE RAIDED; 200 Nazis Swoop Down Upon Capital's 'White Way' Driving Bleeding Men Along Street. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1935/07/16/archives/jews-are-beaten-by-berlin-rioters-cafes-are-raided-200-nazis-swoop.html |access-date=2022-12-28 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> [[Sturmabteilung|Storm Troopers]] went on a sadistic attack,<ref name=sf>Friedlander, S. (2009). ''Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1933-1945: Abridged Edition''. United States: HarperCollins. p. 44.
<blockquote>From the beginning of 1935 intense anti Jewish incitement had newly surfaced among party radicals.... Jochen Klepper, a deeply religious Protestant writer whose wife was Jewish, wrote in his diary on July 13: "Anti-Semitic excesses on the Kurfürstendamm.... The cleansing of Berlin of Jews threateningly announced." A week later Klepper again wrote of what had happened on the Kurfürstendamm: Jewish women had been struck in the face; Jewish men had behaved courageously. "Nobody came to their help, because everyone is afraid of being arrested."</blockquote>
[Citing, Klepper, ''Unter dem Schatten deiner Fluegel: Aus den Tagebuechern der Jahre 1932-1942'', (Stuttgart, 1983), p.269].</ref><ref name=nyteditors>{{Cite news |date=1935-07-17 |title=EDITOR DESCRIBES RIOTING IN BERLIN; Varian Fry of The Living Age Tells of Seeing Women and Men Beaten and Kicked. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1935/07/17/archives/editor-describes-rioting-in-berlin-varian-fry-of-the-living-age.html |access-date=2022-12-29 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> in "the most brutal anti-Jewish manifestation since Hitler's rise to power,"<ref name=mg>{{Cite journal |last=Gottlieb |first=Moshe |date=1970 |title=The Berlin Riots of 1935 and Their Repercussions in America |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23877861 |journal=American Jewish Historical Quarterly |volume=59 |issue=3 |pages=302–328 |jstor=23877861 |issn=0002-9068}}<blockquote>
On the night of July 15, 1935, about 200 German toughs invaded Berlin's fashionable Kurfürstendamm, seizing, chasing and savagely beating men and women who looked Jewish to them or displeased them by attitude and appearance. The young ruffians were clad in civilian clothes, but from the boots and trousers worn by many, it was clear that they were Nazi Storm Troopers.
Howling down their victims with cries of "Out with Jews!" and "Destruction to Jews!", the rowdies freely vented their passion against an unsuspecting defenseless populace. Including some foreigners.
Frantic and hurried phone calls made to the police by café proprietors had very little effect because the police appeared most reluctant to prevent the sadistic attack.
The outbreak was the most brutal anti-Jewish manifestation since Hitler's rise to power.</blockquote></ref> with [[Hitler]]'s instigation,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hitler Charged with Instigating Berlin Riots |url=https://www.jta.org/archive/hitler-charged-with-instigating-berlin-riots |date=1935-07-18|access-date=2022-12-28 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}}</ref> and Nazi-managed press blaming the victims.<ref name=mg/><ref name=sf/> [[Varian Fry]], an American journalist and future [[Righteous Among the Nations]], witnessed the brutality and was inspired to become an "ardent anti-Nazi."<ref>Barry Gewen, [https://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/Holocaust/fry.html "For the American Schindler, Writers and Artists First"]</ref><ref name="nyteditors" /> The shops and businesses owned by Jewish tradespeople became the target of several pogroms, culminating in the "[[Kristallnacht|Reichskristallnacht]]" of 9 November 1938. In World War II the boulevard suffered severe damage from [[Bombing of Berlin in World War II|air raids]] and the [[Battle of Berlin]].<ref name=Sturickow/>

Nevertheless, after the war rebuilding started quickly, and when Berlin was separated into [[East Berlin|East]] and [[West Berlin]], the Kurfürstendamm became the leading commercial street of West Berlin in its [[Wirtschaftswunder]] days. For that reason, too, [[John F. Kennedy]]'s tour of West Berlin on June 26, 1963, included a portion of it.<ref>[[Andreas Daum]], ''Kennedy in Berlin'', New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2008, pp. 105‒6, 115 129, 207.</ref> A few years later, the Kurfürstendamm became the site of [[protest]]s and major [[Demonstration (people)|demonstrations]] by the [[German student movement]]. On 11 April 1968, spokesman [[Rudi Dutschke]] was shot in the head while leaving the office of the [[Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund]] on Kurfürstendamm No. 140.<ref name=Sturickow/>

After [[German reunification]] the Kurfürstendamm had to compete with central places like [[Potsdamer Platz]], [[Friedrichstraße]], and [[Alexanderplatz]], which led to the closing of numerous cafés and cinemas. It retained the character of a [[flâneur]] and upscale shopping street as the western continuation of the [[Tauentzienstraße]] with its large department stores.

The globally unique international art project [[United Buddy Bears]] was presented in Berlin on the Kurfürstendamm during the summer of 2011.<ref>{{Cite web |title=United Buddy Bears in Berlin 2011 |url=https://www.buddy-baer.com/en/united-buddy-bears/world-tour/berlin-2011 |access-date=2023-10-30 |website=www.buddy-baer.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[City West]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons}}
{{Attached KML|display=inline,title}}
*[http://www.stadtpanoramen.de/berlin/kurfuerstendamm.html Kurfürstendamm 360° Panorama]
*[http://www.kurfuerstendamm.de/en/ kurfuerstendamm.de cityguide] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506033430/http://www.kurfuerstendamm.de/en/ |date=6 May 2021 }}
*[http://www.berlin1969.com/stories-geschichte/23rd-hour-23rd-psalm/23rd-hour-the-british-sector/ "23rd Hour, 23rd Psalm"] Chapter includes midnight visit by Americans to the Ku'damm in 1969-71 period.

{{Visitor attractions in Berlin}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurfurstendamm}}
[[Category:Streets in Berlin]]
[[Category:Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf]]
[[Category:Shopping districts and streets in Germany]]

Chapel

2025-11-03T16:17:21Z

2600:4040:45AC:9300:E8FA:EB83:D837:CFE1: /* History */

{{Short description|Christian place of prayer and worship}}
{{hatnote group|
{{Other uses}}
{{redirect|Chapels|the hamlet in Cumbria|Kirkby-in-Furness}}
}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}
[[File:St Paul's Cathedral Chapel of St Michael & St George, London UK - Diliff.jpg|thumb|Chapel of St Michael and St George at [[St Paul's Cathedral]] in London]]
[[File:Apsidal chapels.png|thumb|Schematic rendering of typical "side chapels" in the apse of a cathedral, surrounding the ambulatory]]
A '''chapel''' (from {{langx|la|cappella}}, a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a [[Christianity|Christian]] place of prayer and [[worship]] that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own [[altar]] are often called chapels; the [[Lady chapel]] is a common type of these. Second, a chapel is a place of worship, sometimes [[Interfaith worship spaces|interfaith]],<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/08/18/pentagon.chapel.islam/ | title=Muslim prayers welcome at Pentagon chapel | website=[[CNN]] | access-date=3 March 2016 | archive-date=7 March 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307215949/http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/08/18/pentagon.chapel.islam/ | url-status=live }}</ref> that is part of a building, complex, or vessel with some other main purpose, such as a school, college, hospital, palace or large aristocratic house, castle, [[barracks]], [[prison]], [[funeral home]], cemetery, hotel, airport, or military or commercial ship.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03574b.htm|title=Catholic Encyclopedia: Chapel|website=www.newadvent.org|access-date=10 April 2005|archive-date=9 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309142301/https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03574b.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Third, chapels are small places of worship, built as satellite sites by a church or monastery, for example in remote areas; these are often called a [[chapel of ease]]. A feature of all these types is that often no [[clergy]] are permanently resident or specifically attached to the chapel.

For historical reasons, ''chapel'' is also often the term used by [[Independent (religion)|independent]] or [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|nonconformist]] denominations for their places of worship in England and especially in Wales, even where they are large and in practice operate like a [[parish church]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Wakeling|first1=Christopher|title=Nonconformist Places of Worship: Introductions to Heritage Assets|url=https://content.historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/iha-nonconformist-places-of-worship/heag139-nonconformist-places-of-worshipi-iha.pdf/|publisher=[[Historic England]]|access-date=28 March 2017|date=August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170328195437/https://content.historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/iha-nonconformist-places-of-worship/heag139-nonconformist-places-of-worshipi-iha.pdf/|archive-date=28 March 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Anthony|title=Welsh Chapels|access-date=28 March 2017|date=1996|publisher=National Museum Wales|isbn=9780750911627|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k6zjuTAnuzcC|language=en}}</ref>

The [[Early Christianity|earliest Christian]] places of worship are now often referred to as chapels, as they were not dedicated buildings but rather a dedicated chamber within a building. Most larger churches had one or more secondary altars which, if they occupied a distinct space, would often be called a chapel. In [[Russian Orthodox Church|Russian Orthodox]] tradition, the chapels were built underneath city gates, where most people could visit them; a famous example is the [[Iverskaya Chapel|Iberian Chapel]].

Although chapels frequently refer to Christian places of worship, they are also found in Jewish [[synagogue]]s and do not necessarily denote a specific denomination. In England—where the [[Church of England]] is [[State religion|established]] by law—[[Ecumenism|interdenominational]] or interfaith chapels in such institutions may be consecrated by the local Anglican bishop. Chapels that are not affiliated with a particular denomination are commonly encountered as part of a non-religious institution such as a hospital, airport, university or prison.<ref>{{cite news|title=Multi-faith Spaces: Symptoms and Agents of Religious and Social Change|work=[[University of Manchester]]|url=http://www.manchester.ac.uk/mfs|first=Chris|last=Hewson|date=1 January 2010|access-date= 14 September 2012}}</ref> Many military installations have chapels for the use of military personnel, normally under the leadership of a [[military chaplain]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Royal Army Chaplains' Department|url=http://www.army.mod.uk/chaplains/chaplains.aspx|website=www.army.mod.uk|publisher=The British Army|access-date=28 March 2017|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170319155149/http://www.army.mod.uk/chaplains/chaplains.aspx|archive-date=19 March 2017|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Crviz 2015 jun pic 25.JPG|thumb|The [[Tsrviz Chapel]] in [[Armenia]], one of the oldest chapels in the world]]
The earliest Christian places of worship were not dedicated buildings but rather a dedicated [[Room|chamber]] within a building, such as a room in an individual's home. Here, one or two people could pray without being part of a communion or congregation. People who like to use chapels may find it peaceful and relaxing to be away from the stress of life, without other people moving around them.

[[File:Chapelle Palatine.jpg|thumb|The [[Cappella Palatina]] in [[Palermo]], Italy (pictured), and the [[Palatine Chapel in Aachen]], two of the most famous palace chapels of Europe]]
The word ''chapel'', like the associated word ''chaplain'', is ultimately derived from [[Latin]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chapel|title=Definition of Chapel |website=www.merriam-webster.com|access-date=31 December 2018|archive-date=1 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190101002843/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chapel|url-status=live}}</ref> More specifically, the word is derived from a [[relic]] of [[Martin of Tours|Saint Martin of Tours]]: traditional stories about Martin relate that while he was still a soldier, he cut his military cloak in half to give part to a beggar in need. The other half he wore over his shoulders as a "small cape" ({{langx|la|cappella}}). The beggar, the stories claim, was Christ in disguise, and Martin experienced a conversion of heart, becoming first a monk, then abbot, then bishop. This cape came into the possession of the [[Franks|Frankish]] kings, and they kept the relic with them as they did battle. The tent which kept the cape was called the ''capella'' and the priests who said daily [[mass (liturgy)|Mass]] in the tent were known as the ''capellani''. From these words, via [[Old French]], we get the names "chapel" and "chaplain".

The word also appears in the [[Irish language]] (Gaelic) in the [[Middle Ages]], as Welsh people came with the [[Normans|Norman]] and [[Norman Irish|Old English]] invaders to the island of Ireland. While the traditional Irish word for church was {{lang|ga|eaglais}} (derived from ''[[wikt:ecclesia|ecclesia]]''), a new word, ''séipéal'' (from ''cappella''), came into usage.

In British history, "chapel" or "[[meeting house]]" were formerly the standard designations for church buildings belonging to independent or [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|Nonconformist]] religious societies and their members.<ref>[[OED]] "Chapel", 4</ref> They were particularly associated with the pre-eminence of independent religious practice in rural parts of England and Wales, the northern industrial towns of the late 18th and 19th centuries, and centres of population close to but outside the [[City of London]]. As a result, "chapel" is sometimes used as an adjective in England and Wales to describe members of such churches: for example in the sentence, "I'm Chapel."<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Extended_Family/7Oc2DAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PT82 ''The Extended Family: Why are There So Many Different Churches?''], Start of Chapter 4, Michael John Hooton, 2016, Wipf and Stock Publisher, ISBN 9781498280860</ref>

===Types of chapel===

*A [[bridge chapel]] is a small place of Christian worship, built either on, or immediately adjacent to, a road bridge; they were commonly established during pre-Reformation mediaeval era in Europe.
*A [[castle chapel]], in European architecture, is a chapel built within a castle.
*A [[parecclesion]] or parakklesion is a type of side chapel found in Byzantine architecture.
*A [[capilla abierta]] (open chapel) is one of the most distinct Mexican church construction forms, mostly built in the 16th century during the early colonial period.
*A [[proprietary chapel]] is one that originally belonged to a private individual. In the 19th century they were common, often being built to cope with urbanisation. Frequently they were established by evangelical philanthropists with a vision of spreading Christianity in cities whose needs could no longer be met by the parishes. Some functioned more privately, with a wealthy person building a chapel so that they could invite their favorite preachers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.churchsociety.org/aboutus/managed/Properties_StJamesChurch.htm |title=Church Society - About - Our Work - St James' Church |access-date=2008-10-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509160507/http://www.churchsociety.org/aboutus/managed/Properties_StJamesChurch.htm |archive-date=9 May 2008 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> They are anomalies in the English ecclesiastical law, having no parish area, but being permitted to have an Anglican clergyman licensed there. Historically many Anglican churches were proprietary chapels. Over the years they have often been converted into normal parishes.
*A [[court chapel]] is a chapel as a musical ensemble associated with a royal or noble court. Most of these are royal (court) chapels, but when the ruler of the court is not a king, the more generic "court chapel" is used, for instance for an imperial court.
* A [[royal chapel]] is a chapel associated with a [[monarch]], a [[royal court]], or in a [[royal palace]].
* A [[school chapel]] is a chapel built in or associated with a school, historically found in [[Church of England|Anglican]] or Roman Catholic [[Public school (United Kingdom)|public schools]] in [[England and Wales]]

==Modern usage==
[[File:Capel Salem, Pwllheli.jpg|thumb|[[Capel Salem, Pwllheli|Capel Salem]], a nonconformist chapel in [[Pwllheli]], Wales. Unlike earlier types of chapel, this chapel is not attached to a larger place of worship.]]
While the word ''chapel'' is not exclusively limited to [[Christianity|Christian]] terminology, it is most often found in that context. Nonetheless, the word's meaning can vary by denomination, and non-denominational chapels (sometimes called "meditation rooms") can be found in many hospitals, airports, and even the [[United Nations headquarters]]. Chapels can also be found for worship in [[Judaism]].

"Chapel" is in particularly common usage in the [[United Kingdom]], and especially in [[Wales]], for [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)| Nonconformist]] places of worship;<ref>Also known, perhaps disparagingly, as ''Ebenezers'' – {{oed | Ebenezer}}</ref> and in [[Scotland]] and [[Ireland]] for [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] churches. In [[England]] and Wales, due to the rise in Nonconformist chapels during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, by the time of the [[1851 United Kingdom census|1851 census]], more people attended the independent chapels than attended the state religion's Anglican churches.<ref>{{cite book |first=Owen |last=Chadwick |author-link=Owen Chadwick |title=The Victorian Church, Part One: 1829–1859 |location=London |publisher=Black |year=1966 |pages=363–69 }}</ref><ref>Mann 1854.</ref> (The Anglican Church does not function as the established church in Scotland.)

In Roman Catholic Church canon law, a chapel, technically called an "[[oratory (worship)|oratory]]", is a building or part thereof dedicated to the celebration of services, particularly the Mass, which is not a parish church. This may be a private chapel, for the use of one person or a select group (a bishop's private chapel, or the chapel of a convent, for instance); a semi-public oratory, which is partially available to the general public (a seminary chapel that welcomes visitors to services, for instance); or a public oratory (for instance, a hospital or university chapel).

Chapels that are built as part of a larger church are holy areas set aside for some specific use or purpose: for instance, many cathedrals and large churches have a "[[Lady chapel]]" in the apse, dedicated to the [[Mary (mother of Jesus)| Virgin Mary]]; parish churches may have such a Lady chapel in a side aisle or a "chapel of Reservation" or "[[Blessed Sacrament]] chapel" where the consecrated bread of the [[Reserved sacrament|Eucharist is kept in reserve]] between services, for the purpose of taking Holy Communion to the sick and housebound and, in some Christian traditions, for devotional purposes.

== Types ==
Common uses of the word chapel today include:
[[File:Christ the King Chapel (Christendom College) - 2.jpg|thumb|[[Christ the King Chapel (Christendom College)|Christ the King Chapel]] on the campus of [[Christendom College]] is an example of a college chapel.]]
*Ambassador's chapel – originally created to allow ambassadors from Catholic countries to worship whilst on duty in [[Protestant]] countries.
*Bishop's chapel – in Anglican and Roman Catholic [[canon law]], bishops have the right to have a chapel in their own home, even when travelling (such personal chapels may be granted only as a favor to other priests)
* [[Cappella gentilizia]] - a type of private mortuary chapel used for burials; commonly found in the cemeteries of Italy.
* '''Cemetery chapel''' - an indoor venue in a [[cemetery]] where families, friends and clergy gather for funeral services including music, eulogies, Scriptural reading, pastoral prayers and intimate reflection (moments of silence). It additionally protects them from rain, summertime heat or cold wintry weather.
*[[Chapel of ease]] – constructed in large parishes to allow parishioners easy access to a church or chapel.
*Chapel of rest – not a place of worship as such, but a comfortably decorated room in a [[funeral director]]'s premises, where family and friends can view the deceased before a funeral.
*College chapel - located on college or university campuses that are or were once affiliated with a religion
*Family chapel - private chapel for royal families and other wealthy families.
* '''Funeral chapel''' – a venue for [[funeral]]s or memorial services/celebrations of life/services of remembrance at a [[funeral home]]. In the case of cremation services, families and visitors would gather in a [[crematorium]] (''crematory'' or ''cremation center'' in the United States).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.funeralpartners.co.uk/help-advice/arranging-a-funeral/what-happens-at-a-cremation-service/ | title=What Happens at a Cremation Service? }}</ref>
*Hospital chapel – location for praying for the sick or recently deceased. It can be used for memorial services or celebrations of life.
*[[Lady chapel]] – really a form of side chapel, but notable separately as such chapels are common in the [[Roman Catholic Church]] and the [[Anglican Communion]]. They are dedicated to the [[veneration]] of the [[Blessed Virgin Mary]].
* '''Mausoleum chapel''' also known as a '''Chapel mausoleum''' - a cemetery chapel featuring [[tomb]]s where families, friends and clergy gather for funeral services including Scriptural reading, eulogies, pastoral prayers and intimate reflection (moments of silence). It additionally keeps them from enduring weather conditions of summertime heat, cold wintry weather or rain.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.mausoleums.com/inside-the-chapel-mausoleum | title=Inside the Chapel Mausoleum | date=20 April 2013 }}</ref>
*Military chapel – U.S. military bases often have chapels designated for use by varying denominations. As no specific denomination or faith is the "owner", such a site is commonly referred to as a chapel instead of a church, mosque, or synagogue. Service members can often receive services for nondenominational Christian, Roman Catholic, Islamic, and Jewish faiths, as well as information for other services in the local area.
*[[Multifaith space|Multifaith chapel]] – found within hospitals, airports and universities, etc.; often converted from being exclusively Christian.
*Side-chapel – a chapel within a cathedral or larger church building.
*Summer chapel – a small church in a resort area that functions only during the summer when vacationers are present.
*Wayside chapel or country chapel – small chapels in the countryside
*[[Wedding chapel]] – a venue for [[wedding]]s.

The first airport chapel was created in 1951 in [[Boston]] for airport workers but grew to include travelers. It was originally Catholic, but chapels today are often multifaith.<ref>{{cite news|last1= Cadge|first1= Wendy|title= As you travel, pause and take a look at airport chapels|url= https://theconversation.com/as-you-travel-pause-and-take-a-look-at-airport-chapels-87578|access-date= 12 January 2018|work= [[The Conversation (website)|The Conversation]]|date= 3 January 2018|archive-date= 13 January 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180113092923/https://theconversation.com/as-you-travel-pause-and-take-a-look-at-airport-chapels-87578|url-status= live}}</ref>

==Notable chapels==
[[File:Rilski.jpg|thumb|right|The old premises of [[St. Ivan Rilski Chapel]] in Antarctica]]
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Chapel !! Year !! Location 
|-
| [[Bethesda Methodist Chapel, Hanley|Bethesda Methodist Chapel]] || align="center" | 1887 || align="center" | [[Hanley, Staffordshire]], England
|-
| [[Boardwalk Chapel]] || align="center" | 1945 || align="center" | [[The Wildwoods]], [[New Jersey]], United States
|-
| [[Brancacci Chapel]] || align="center" | 1386 || align="center" | Church of [[Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence|Santa Maria del Carmine]], [[Florence]], Italy
|-
| [[Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford]] || align="center" | 1160–1200 || align="center" | It is also the chapel of [[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]], a college of the [[University of Oxford]]. This dual role as cathedral and college chapel is unique in the [[Church of England]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/cathedral |title=Cathedral | Christ Church, Oxford University |website=Chch.ox.ac.uk |access-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305184113/http://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/cathedral |archive-date=5 March 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
| [[Chigi Chapel]] || align="center" | 1507–1661 || align="center" | Church of [[Santa Maria del Popolo]], [[Rome]], Italy
|-
| [[Contarelli Chapel]] || align="center" | 1585 || align="center" | Church of [[San Luigi dei Francesi]], [[Rome]], Italy
|-
| [[Duke Chapel]] || align="center" | 1932 || align="center" | [[Duke University]], Durham, North Carolina, United States
|-
| [[Eton College Chapel]] || align="center" | 1440 – {{Circa|1460}} || align="center" | [[Eton College]], [[Eton, Berkshire]], England
|-
| [[Chapelle expiatoire]] || align="center" | 1824 || align="center" | Paris, France
|-
| [[Gallus Chapel]] || align="center" | 1330–1340|| align="center" | [[Greifensee ZH]], Switzerland
|-
| [[Heinz Memorial Chapel]] || align="center" | 1938 || align="center" | [[University of Pittsburgh]], [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]], United States
|-
| [[Henry VII Chapel]] || align="center" | 1503 || align="center" | [[Westminster Abbey]], London, England
|-
| [[Chapel of the Holy Shroud]] || align="center" | 1694 || align="center" | [[Turin]], Italy
|-
| [[King's College Chapel, Cambridge|King's College Chapel]] || align="center" | 1446 || align="center" | [[King's College, Cambridge|King's College]] in the [[University of Cambridge]], [[Cambridge]], England
|-
| [[King's College Chapel, London|King's College Chapel]] || align="center" | 1831 || align="center" | [[King's College London|King's College]], [[London]], England
|-
| [[Lancing College Chapel]] || align="center" | 1868 || align="center" | [[Lancing College]], [[Lancing, West Sussex|Lancing]], West Sussex, England
|-
| [[Llandaff Oratory]] || align="center" | 1925 || align="center" | [[KwaZulu-Natal|Van Reenen]], South Africa
|-
| [[Magi Chapel]] || align="center" | 1459–1461 || align="center" | [[Palazzo Medici Riccardi]], [[Florence]], Italy
|-
| [[Medici Chapel (Michelangelo)|Medici Chapel]]s || align="center" | 1519–1524; 1602 || align="center" | Church of [[San Lorenzo, Florence|San Lorenzo]], [[Florence]], Italy
|-
| [[Niccoline Chapel]] || align="center" | 1447–1449|| Align="Center" | [[Apostolic Palace]], Vatican City
|-
| [[Notre-Dame du Haut]] || align="center" | 1955 || align="center" | [[Ronchamp]], France
|-
| [[Palatine Chapel, Aachen|Palatine Chapel]] || align="center" | 786 || align="center" | [[Aachen Cathedral]], [[Aachen]], Germany
|-
| [[Cappella Palatina|Palatine Chapel]] || align="center" | 1132 || align="center" | [[Palazzo dei Normanni]], [[Palermo]], Sicily, Italy
|-
| [[Cappella Paolina|Pauline Chapel]] || align="center" | 1540 || align="center" | [[Apostolic Palace]], Vatican City
|-
| [[Pazzi Chapel]] || align="center" | {{Circa|1442}} – 1443 || align="center" | Church of [[Santa Croce, Florence|Santa Croce]], [[Florence]], Italy
|-
| [[Pettit Memorial Chapel]] || align="center" | 1907 || align="center" | [[Belvidere, Illinois]], United States
|-
| [[Queen's Chapel]] || align="center" | 1623 || align="center" | [[St James's Palace]], London, England
|-
| [[Chapelle Rouge]] || align="center" | 15th century BC || align="center" | [[Karnak]], Egypt
|-
| [[Chapelle du Rosaire de Vence]] || align="center" | 1951 || align="center" | [[Vence]], France
|-
| [[Chapel of the Rosario, Puebla|Rosary Chapel]] || align="center" | 1531–1690 || align="center" | [[Puebla (city)|Puebla City]], [[Puebla]], Mexico
|-
| [[Rosslyn Chapel]] || align="center" | 1440|| align="center" | [[Roslin, Midlothian]], Scotland
|-
| [[Rothko Chapel]] || align="center" | 1964 || align="center" | [[Houston, Texas]], United States
|-
| [[Royal Chapel of Granada]] || align="center" | 1517 || align="center" | [[Granada]], Spain
|-
| [[Royal Palace of Madrid#Royal Chapel|Royal Chapel]] || align="center" | designed 1748 || align="center" | [[Royal Palace of Madrid]], Spain
|-
| [[Royal Chapel (Sweden)|Royal Chapel, Sweden]] || align="center" | 1754 || align="center" | [[Stockholm Palace]], Sweden
|-
| [[Chapelle royale de Dreux]] || align="center" | 1816 || Align="center" | [[Dreux]], Eure-et-Loir, France
|-
| [[St. Aloysius Chapel]] || align="center" | 1884 || align="center" | [[Mangalore]], India
|-
| [[St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle|St George's Chapel]] || align="center" | 1348 || align="center" | [[Windsor Castle]], England
|-
| [[Chapel of Saint Helena, Jerusalem|Chapel of Saint Helena]] || align="center" | 12th century || align="center" | [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]], [[Jerusalem]]
|-
| [[St. Ivan Rilski Chapel]] || align="center" | 2003|| align="center" | [[Livingston Island]], Antarctica
|-
| [[St. Joan of Arc Chapel]] || align="center" | 15th century || align="center" | Relocated to [[Marquette University]], [[Milwaukee]], United States
|-
| [[St. Paul's Chapel (Manhattan)|St. Paul's Chapel]] || align="center" | 1766 || align="center" | New York City, United States
|-
| [[Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall]] || align="center" | 654 || Align="center" | [[Bradwell-on-Sea]], Essex, England
|-
| [[St Salvator's Chapel]] || align="center" | 1450 || align="center" | [[University of St Andrews|St Andrews University]], [[St Andrews]], Scotland
|-
| [[Sainte-Chapelle]] || align="center" | 1246 || align="center" | [[Île de la Cité]], Paris, France
|-
| [[Cappella Sansevero|Sansevero Chapel]] || align="center" | 1590 || align="center" | [[Naples]], Italy
|-
| [[Sassetti Chapel]] || align="center" | 1470 || align="center" | Church of [[Santa Trinita]], [[Florence]], Italy
|-
| [[Scrovegni Chapel]] || align="center" | {{Circa|1303}} – 1305 || align="center" | [[Padua]], Italy
|-
| [[Sigismund's Chapel]] || align="center" | 1519 || align="center" | [[Wawel Cathedral]], [[Kraków]], Poland
|-
| [[Sistine Chapel]] || align="center" | 1473 || align="center" | [[Apostolic Palace]], Vatican City
|-
| [[Skull Chapel]] || align="center" | 1776 || align="center" | [[Kudowa]], [[Silesia]], Poland
|-
| [[Slipper Chapel]] || align="center" | 1340|| align="center" | [[Norfolk]], England
|-
| [[Chapel of the Snows]] || align="center" | 1989 || Align="center" | [[McMurdo Station]], [[Ross Island]], Antarctica
|-
| [[Tabernacle Chapel, Morriston|Tabernacle Chapel]] || align="center" | 1874–1877 || align="center" | [[Morriston]], [[Swansea]], Wales
|-
| [[Chapelle de la Trinité]] || align="center" | 1622 || align="center" | [[Lyon]], France
|-
| [[University Chapel]] || align="center" | 1867 || align="center" | [[Washington and Lee University]], [[Lexington, Virginia]], US
|-
| [[Chapels of Versailles]] || align="center" | 17th–18th centuries || align="center" | [[Palace of Versailles]], France
|}

==Gallery==
{{cleanup-gallery|date=January 2024}}

{{Clear}}
<gallery mode="packed" heights="150">
File:Telleri kabel.jpg|Teller Chapel in [[Tartu]], Estonia
File:Little Chapel op Guernsey.JPG|The [[Little Chapel]], [[Guernsey]]
File:St-Sixte 1x.JPG|Chapelle Saint-Sixte d'Eygalières, [[Bouches-du-Rhône]], [[Provence]], France
File:StDimitriosChapeliontheBeach.jpg|St. Dimitrius Chapel on the beach of [[Olympiaki Akti]], Greece
File:Kent UMC chapel.jpg|Methodist Chapel in [[Kent, Ohio]], United States
File:Confederate Memorial Chapel interior (8371750859).jpg|[[Confederate Memorial Chapel]], [[Richmond, Virginia]], United States
File:Vassar Chapel Interior.jpg|Vassar Chapel Interior, [[Vassar College]], Poughkeepsie, New York
File:Heinz Memorial Chapel, interior.jpg|Interior of Heinz Chapel, [[University of Pittsburgh]]
File:Heiligendamm Waldkapelle 2010-05-17 043.jpg|Forest chapel in [[Heiligendamm]], Bad Doberan, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
File:Chapelle Sainte-Anne, Varennes.jpg|Processional Chapel in [[Varennes, Quebec|Varennes]], Quebec
File:Turvey Abbey, chapel interior - geograph.org.uk - 1199808.jpg|[[Turvey Abbey]], chapel interior
File:Little Chapel Steinfurt-Borghorst at night.jpg|Open Chapel in [[Steinfurt]], Germany
File:Eton College Chapel - August 5, 2007.jpg|Eton College Chapel in [[Eton College]], England
File:Avon Old Farms School - chapel interior.jpg|[[Avon Old Farms School]] - the chapel
File:Chapel in the Wood, Strawberry Hill 01.jpg|Chapel in the Wood, [[Strawberry Hill House]], near London
File:Armenian Cathedral Deir Ez Zor.jpg|Chapel in the Armenian Cathedral Deir Ez Zor
File:0901 Kaplica Gotycka Police ZPL.JPG|Gothic Chapel (15th century) in The [[Police Old Town|Chrobry Square]], [[Police, West Pomeranian Voivodeship|Police]], Poland
File:Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks - East end - geograph.org.uk - 351924.jpg|[[Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks]], London, largely rebuilt after bombing in 1944
File:La Cappella degli Scrovegni.JPG|Cappella degli Scrovegni in [[Padua]], Italy
File:Mirochòwò - kaplica z 1740 roku.JPG|Chapel in [[Mirachowo]], [[Kashubia]] (bd. 1740)
File:17 03 180 chapel.jpg|Chapel at [[Callaway Gardens]] in holiday resort
File:Schlosskapelle Burgmuseum Alte Burg Meersburg-1.jpg|German castle chapel
File:17 22 185 chapel.jpg|Memorial Chapel at [[Lake Junaluska, North Carolina|Lake Junaluska]]
File:Palacio da Alvorada Chapel.JPG|The [[Modern architecture|modernist]] presidential chapel (left) at the [[Palácio da Alvorada]], the official residence of the [[President of Brazil]]
File:Crematorium Chapel - geograph.org.uk - 455822.jpg|Funeral chapel at Woodlands Crematorium, [[Scarborough, North Yorkshire|Scarborough]], England
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Castle chapel]]
*[[Chapel (music)]]
*[[Church (building)]]
*[[Meeting house]]
*[[Father of the Chapel]]
*[[Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy|Sacri Monti]]
*[[Corpse road]]
*[[Railroad chapel car]]
*[[Capilla abierta]]
*[[Chapelle de l'Oratoire, Nantes]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{commons-inline}}
*{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Chapel |volume=5 |short=x}}
* [http://www.doit.house/russian-chapel.shtml Russian chapels photo gallery]
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Chapels| ]]
[[Category:Types of church buildings]]

Icon

2025-11-03T14:26:38Z

2600:4040:45AC:9300:E8FA:EB83:D837:CFE1:

{{short description|Religious work of art in Christianity}}
{{About|religious images|pictograms used in graphical user interfaces|Icon (computing)|other uses}}
[[File:The Ladder of Divine Ascent Monastery of St Catherine Sinai 12th century.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|The ''[[Ladder of Divine Ascent (icon)|Ladder of Divine Ascent]]'' depicts monks ascending to [[Jesus]] in heaven in the top right. 12th century, [[Saint Catherine's Monastery]].]]
{{Eastern Orthodox sidebar|expanded= theology}}

An '''icon''' ({{etymology|grc|''{{wikt-lang|grc|εἰκών}}'' ({{grc-transl|εἰκών}})|image, resemblance}}) is a religious work of art, most commonly a [[painting]], in the cultures of the [[Eastern Orthodox]], [[Oriental Orthodox]], [[Catholic Church|Catholic]], and [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] churches.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cooper |first1=Jordan |title=The Great Divide: A Lutheran Evaluation of Reformed Theology |date=27 August 2015 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-4982-2423-9 |page=101 |language=en}}</ref> The most common subjects include [[Jesus]], [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Mary]], [[saint]]s, and [[angel]]s. Although especially associated with portrait-style images concentrating on one or two main figures, the term also covers most of the religious images in a variety of artistic media produced by [[Eastern Christianity]], including narrative scenes, usually from the Bible or the lives of saints.

Icons are most commonly painted on wood panels with [[Tempera|egg tempera]], but they may also be cast in metal or carved in stone or embroidered on cloth or done in [[mosaic]] or fresco work or printed on paper or metal, etc. Comparable images from [[Western Christianity]] may be classified as "icons", although "iconic" may also be used to describe the static style of a devotional image. In the Greek language, the term for icon painting uses the same word as for "writing", and Orthodox sources often translate it into English as ''icon writing''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://orthodoxhistory.org/2010/06/08/icons-are-not-written/|title=Icons Are Not "Written"|website=Orthodox History|date=8 June 2010}}</ref>

Eastern Orthodox tradition holds that the production of Christian images dates back to the very [[Early Christianity|early days of Christianity]], and that it has been a continuous tradition since then. Modern academic [[art history]] considers that, while images may have existed earlier, the tradition can be traced back only as far as the 3rd century, and that the images which survive from [[Early Christian art]] often differ greatly from later ones. The icons of later centuries can be linked, often closely, to images from the 5th century onwards, though very few of these survive. Widespread destruction of images occurred during the [[Byzantine Iconoclasm]] of 726–842, although this did settle permanently the question of the appropriateness of images. Since then, icons have had a great continuity of style and subject, far greater than in the icons of the [[Western church]]. At the same time there has been change and development.

==History==

===Emergence of the icon===
{{further|Image of Edessa}}
{{further|Religious images in Christian theology}}
[[File:Trinity tikhon filatiev.jpg|thumb|upright|Russian icon of the [[Holy Trinity]]]]
[[File:MikołajDSC 0186.jpg|thumb|upright|The icon of [[St Nicolas]] carved in stone (between {{circa}} 12 and 15th centuries), at the [[Radomysl Castle]], in Ukraine<ref>Bogomolets O. Radomysl Castle-Museum on the Royal Road Via Regia". Kyiv, 2013 {{ISBN|978-617-7031-15-3}}</ref>]]
[[File:Evangelist Luka pishustchiy ikonu.jpg|thumb|upright|Luke painting the [[Theotokos of Vladimir]] (16th century, [[Pskov]])]]
[[File:Byzantine - Saint Arethas - Walters 4820862.jpg|thumb|A rare ceramic icon depicting [[Arethas of Caesarea|Saint Arethas]] (Byzantine, 10th century)]]
[[File:Ushakov Nerukotvorniy.jpg|thumb|''Image of the Saviour [[Acheiropoieta|Not Made by Hand]]'': a traditional Orthodox [[iconography]] in the interpretation of [[Simon Ushakov]] (1658).]]

====Origins in primitive Christianity in the first century====
Pre-Christian religions had produced and used art works.<ref>{{cite book |last=Nichols |first=Aidan |author-link=Aidan Nichols |title=Redeeming Beauty: Soundings in Sacral Aesthetics |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=2orYAAAAMAAJ |via=Google Books |series=Ashgate studies in theology, imagination, and the arts |location=Aldershot |publisher=Ashgate |date=2007 |page=84 |isbn=9780754658955 |access-date=31 May 2020 |quote=... ancient religious art can be said to have created, all unconsciously, a pre-Christian icon.}}</ref> Statues and paintings of various gods and deities were regularly worshiped and venerated. It is unclear when Christians took up such activities. Christian tradition dating from the 8th century identifies [[Luke the Evangelist]] as the first icon painter, but this might not reflect historical facts.<ref>Michele Bacci, ''Il pennello dell'Evangelista. Storia delle immagini sacre attribuite a san Luca'' (Pisa: Gisem, 1998).</ref> A general assumption that [[Aniconism in Christianity#Early Christianity|early Christianity was generally aniconic]], opposed to religious imagery in both theory and practice until about 200, has been challenged by Paul Corby Finney's analysis of early Christian writing and material remains (1994). His assumption distinguishes three different sources of attitudes affecting early Christians on the issue: "first that humans could have a direct vision of God; second that they could not; and, third, that although humans could see God they were best advised not to look, and were strictly forbidden to represent what they had seen".<ref name="ReferenceA">Finney, viii–xii, viii and xi quoted</ref>

These derived respectively from Greek and Near Eastern pagan religions, from Ancient Greek philosophy, and from the Jewish tradition and the Old Testament. Of the three, Finney concludes that "overall, Israel's aversion to sacred images influenced early Christianity considerably less than the Greek philosophical tradition of invisible deity apophatically defined", so placing less emphasis on the [[Jewish Christianity|Jewish background]] of most of the first Christians than most traditional accounts.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Finney suggests that "the reasons for the non-appearance of Christian art before 200 have nothing to do with principled aversion to art, with other-worldliness, or with anti-materialism. The truth is simple and mundane: Christians lacked land and capital. Art requires both. As soon as they began to acquire land and capital, Christians began to experiment with their own distinctive forms of art".<ref>Finney, 108</ref>

Aside from the legend that Pilate had made an image of Christ, the 4th-century [[Eusebius of Caesarea]], in his [[Church History (Eusebius)|''Church History'']], provides a more substantial reference to a "first" icon of Jesus. He relates that King [[Abgar V|Abgar]] of [[Edessa]] (died {{circa|50 CE}}) sent a letter to Jesus at Jerusalem, asking Jesus to come and heal him of an illness. This version of the Abgar story does not mention an image. A later account found in the Syriac ''[[Doctrine of Addai]]'' ({{circa|400?}}) mentions a painted image of Jesus in the story. Even later, in the 6th-century account given by [[Evagrius Scholasticus]], the painted image transforms into an image that miraculously appeared on a towel when Christ pressed the cloth to his wet face.<ref>''Veronica and her Cloth'', Kuryluk, Ewa, Basil Blackwell, Cambridge, 1991</ref> Further legends relate that the cloth remained in Edessa until the 10th century, when it was taken by General [[John Kourkouas]] to [[Constantinople]]. It went missing in 1204 when [[Fourth Crusade|Crusaders]] sacked Constantinople, but by then numerous copies had firmly established its iconic type.

The 4th-century Christian [[Aelius Lampridius]] produced the earliest known written records of Christian images treated like icons (in a [[Paganism|pagan]] or [[Gnostic]] context) in his ''Life of Alexander Severus'' (xxix) that formed part of the ''[[Augustan History]]''. According to Lampridius, the emperor [[Alexander Severus]] ({{reign|222|235}}), himself not a Christian, had kept a domestic chapel for the [[veneration]] of images of deified emperors, of portraits of his ancestors, and of Christ, [[Apollonius of Tyana|Apollonius]], [[Orpheus]] and [[Abraham]]. Saint [[Irenaeus of Lyons|Irenaeus]], ({{circa|130–202}}) in his [[On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis|''Against Heresies'']] (1:25;6) says scornfully of the Gnostic [[Carpocratians]]:

{{Blockquote|They also possess images, some of them painted, and others formed from different kinds of material; while they maintain that a likeness of Christ was made by Pilate at that time when Jesus lived among them. They crown these images, and set them up along with the images of the philosophers of the world that is to say, with the images of Pythagoras, and Plato, and Aristotle, and the rest. They have also other modes of honouring these images, after the same manner of the Gentiles [pagans].}}

On the other hand, Irenaeus does not speak critically of icons or portraits in a general sense—only of certain gnostic sectarians' use of icons.

Another criticism of image veneration appears in the non-canonical 2nd-century [[Acts of John]] (generally considered a [[gnostic]] work), in which the [[Apostle John]] discovers that one of his followers has had a portrait made of him, and is venerating it:

{{Blockquote|[John] went into the bedchamber, and saw the portrait of an old man crowned with garlands, and lamps and altars set before it. And he called him and said: Lycomedes, what do you mean by this matter of the portrait? Can it be one of thy gods that is painted here? For I see that you are still living in heathen fashion.|[[Acts of John]], 27}}

Later in the passage John says, "But this that you have now done is childish and imperfect: you have drawn a dead likeness of the dead."

At least some of the hierarchy of the Christian churches still strictly opposed icons in the early 4th century. At the Spanish non-ecumenical [[Synod of Elvira]] ({{circa|305}}) bishops concluded, "Pictures are not to be placed in churches, so that they do not become objects of worship and adoration".<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.conorpdowling.com/library/council-of-elvira | title= The Gentle Exit » Council of Elvira | work= Conorpdowling.com | access-date= 2012-12-10 | archive-date= 2018-11-06 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181106195812/http://www.conorpdowling.com/library/council-of-elvira | url-status= dead }}</ref>

Bishop [[Epiphanius of Salamis]], wrote his letter 51 to John, Bishop of Jerusalem ({{circa|394}}) in which he recounted how he tore down an image in a church and admonished the other bishop that such images are "opposed{{nbsp}}[...] to our religion".<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001051.htm|title= Church Fathers: Letter 51 (Jerome)|website= www.newadvent.org}}</ref>

====Icons in Eusebius to Philostorgius (425 AD)====
Elsewhere in his ''Church History'', [[Eusebius]] reports seeing what he took to be portraits of Jesus, [[Saint Peter|Peter]] and [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]], and also mentions a bronze statue at [[Banias]]/Paneas under Mount Hermon, of which he wrote, "They say that this statue is an image of Jesus".<ref>Eusebius, ''Church History'', 7:18</ref> Further, he relates that locals regarded the image as a memorial of the healing of the [[woman with an issue of blood]] by Jesus (Luke 8:43–48), because it depicted a standing man wearing a double cloak and with arm outstretched, and a woman kneeling before him with arms reaching out as if in supplication.

John Francis Wilson<ref>John Francis Wilson: ''Caesarea Philippi: Banias, the Lost City of Pan'' [[I.B. Tauris]], London, 2004.</ref> suggests the possibility that this refers to a pagan bronze statue whose true identity had been forgotten. Some{{who|date=September 2016}} have thought it to represent [[Aesculapius]], the Greek god of healing, but the description of the standing figure and the woman kneeling in supplication precisely matches images found on coins depicting the bearded emperor [[Hadrian]] ({{reign|117|138}}) reaching out to a female figure—symbolizing a [[Roman province|province]]—kneeling before him.

When asked by [[Flavia Julia Constantia|Constantia]] (Emperor [[Constantine I|Constantine]]'s half-sister) for an image of Jesus, Eusebius denied the request, replying: "To depict purely the human form of Christ before its transformation, on the other hand, is to break the commandment of God and to fall into pagan error."<ref>David M. Gwynn, From Iconoclasm to Arianism: The Construction of Christian Tradition in the Iconoclast Controversy [Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 47 (2007) 225–251], p. 227.</ref> Hence [[Jaroslav Pelikan]] calls Eusebius "the father of iconoclasm".<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/answering-eastern-orthodox-apologists-regarding-icons/|title=Answering Eastern Orthodox Apologists regarding Icons|website=The Gospel Coalition}}</ref>

After the emperor Constantine I extended [[Edict of Milan|official toleration of Christianity]] within the Roman Empire in 313, huge numbers of pagans became converts. This period of the [[Historiography of Christianization of the Roman Empire]] probably saw the use of Christian images become very widespread among the faithful, though with great differences from pagan habits. Robin Lane Fox states<ref>Fox, ''Pagans and Christians'', [[Alfred A. Knopf]], New York, 1989.</ref> "By the early fifth century, we know of the ownership of private icons of saints; by {{c.|480–500}}, we can be sure that the inside of a saint's shrine would be adorned with images and votive portraits, a practice which had probably begun earlier."

When Constantine himself ({{reign|306|337}}) apparently converted to Christianity, the majority of his subjects remained pagans. The [[Roman Imperial cult]] of the divinity of the emperor, expressed through the traditional burning of candles and the offering of incense to the emperor's image, was tolerated for a period because it would have been politically dangerous to attempt to suppress it.<ref>{{Cite web |last=BDEhrman |date=2024-08-27 |title=The Conversion of the Emperor Constantine |url=https://ehrmanblog.org/40368-2/ |access-date=2025-04-28 |website=The Bart Ehrman Blog |language=en}}</ref> In the 5th century the courts of justice and municipal buildings of the empire still honoured the portrait of the reigning emperor in this way.<ref name="Dix 1945 413–414">{{cite book |first=Dom Gregory |last=Dix |title=The Shape of the Liturgy |location=New York |publisher=Seabury Press |date=1945 |pages=413–414}}</ref>

In 425 [[Philostorgius]], an allegedly [[Arian]] Christian, charged the Orthodox Christians in Constantinople with [[idolatry]] because they still honored the image of the emperor Constantine the Great in this way. [[Gregory Dix|Dix]] notes that this occurred more than a century before the first extant reference to a similar honouring of the image of Jesus or of his apostles or saints known today, but that it would seem a natural progression for the image of Christ, the King of Heaven and Earth, to be paid similar veneration as that given to the earthly Roman emperor.<ref name="Dix 1945 413–414"/> However, the Orthodox, Eastern Catholics, Eastern Lutherans, and other groups insist on explicitly distinguishing the veneration of icons from the worship of idols by pagans.<ref>[http://orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/icon_bowing.aspx "Is Venerating Icons Idolatry? A Response to the Credenda Agenda"].</ref>{{crossreference|printworthy=y|(See further below on the doctrine of veneration as opposed to worship.)}}

===Theodosius to Justinian===
[[File:Kristus a svatý Menas.jpg|thumb|[[Icon of Christ and Abbot Mena|Christ and Saint Menas]], 6th-century [[Coptic art|Coptic icon]] from [[Egypt]] ([[Musée du Louvre]])]]

After adoption of Christianity as the only permissible Roman state religion under [[Theodosius I]], Christian art began to change not only in quality and sophistication, but also in nature. This was in no small part due to Christians being free for the first time to express their faith openly without persecution from the state, in addition to the faith spreading to the non-poor segments of society. Paintings of martyrs and their feats began to appear, and early writers commented on their lifelike effect, one of the elements a few Christian writers criticized in pagan art—the ability to imitate life. The writers mostly criticized pagan works of art for pointing to false gods, thus encouraging idolatry. Statues in the round were avoided as being too close to the principal artistic focus of pagan cult practices, as they have continued to be (with some small-scale exceptions) throughout the history of [[Eastern Christianity]].

[[Nilus of Sinai]] ({{abbr|d.|died}} {{c.|430}}), in his ''Letter to Heliodorus Silentiarius'', records a miracle in which Saint Plato of Ankyra appeared to a Christian in a dream. The saint was recognized because the young man had often seen his portrait. This recognition of a religious apparition from likeness to an image was also a characteristic of pagan pious accounts of appearances of gods to humans, and was a regular ''topos'' in hagiography. One critical recipient of a vision from [[Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki]] apparently specified that the saint resembled the "more ancient" images of him—presumably the 7th-century mosaics still in [[Hagios Demetrios]]. Another, an African bishop, had been rescued from Arab slavery by a young soldier called Demetrios, who told him to go to his house in Thessaloniki. Having discovered that most young soldiers in the city seemed to be called Demetrios, he gave up and went to the largest church in the city, to find his rescuer on the wall.<ref name="RC">Robin Cormack, "Writing in Gold, Byzantine Society and its Icons", 1985, George Philip, London, {{ISBN|0-540-01085-5}}</ref>

[[File:Spas vsederzhitel sinay.jpg|thumb|upright|The oldest surviving icon of [[Christ Pantocrator]], [[Encaustic painting|encaustic on panel]], {{c.|6th century}} ([[Saint Catherine's Monastery]], [[Mount Sinai]])]]

During this period the church began to discourage all non-religious human images—the Emperor and donor figures counting as religious. This became largely effective, so that most of the population would only ever see religious images and those of the ruling class. The word ''icon'' referred to any and all images, not just religious ones, but there was barely a need for a separate word for these.

===Luke's portrait of Mary===
It is in a context attributed to the 5th century that the first mention of an image of Mary painted from life appears, though earlier paintings on [[Catacombs of Rome|catacomb walls]] bear resemblance to modern icons of Mary. [[Theodorus Lector]], in his 6th-century ''History of the Church'' 1:1<ref>Excerpted by Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopoulos; this passage is by some considered a later interpolation.</ref> stated that [[Licinia Eudoxia|Eudokia]] (wife of emperor [[Theodosius II]], {{abbr|d.|died}} 460) sent an image of the "[[Theotokos|Mother of God]]" named [[Hodegetria|Icon of the Hodegetria]] from Jerusalem to [[Pulcheria]], daughter of [[Arcadius]], the former emperor and father of Theodosius II. The image was specified to have been "painted by [[Luke the Evangelist#As an artist|the Apostle Luke]]."

[[Margherita Guarducci]] relates a tradition that the original icon of Mary attributed to Luke, sent by Eudokia to Pulcheria from Palestine, was a large circular icon only of her head. When the icon arrived in Constantinople it was fitted in as the head into a very large rectangular icon of her holding the Christ child and it is this composite icon that became the one historically known as the Hodegetria. She further states another tradition that when the last Latin Emperor of Constantinople, [[Baldwin II of Constantinople|Baldwin II]], fled Constantinople in 1261 he took this original circular portion of the icon with him.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.avellinomagazine.it/foto%20home%20page/madonna.jpg|title=Photo |website=www.avellinomagazine.it|access-date=2020-08-08}}</ref><ref name="mariadinazareth_it">{{cite web |url=http://www.mariadinazareth.it/www2005/Apparizioni/Montevergine4.jpg |title= Photo |website=www.mariadinazareth.it|access-date=2020-08-08}}</ref>

This remained in the possession of the [[Capetian House of Anjou|Angevin dynasty]] who had it inserted into a much larger image of Mary and the Christ child, which is presently enshrined above the high altar of the Benedictine Abbey church of [[Montevergine]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.avellinomagazine.it/foto%20home%20page/madonna.jpg|title=Photo |website=www.avellinomagazine.it|access-date=2020-08-08}}</ref><ref name="mariadinazareth_it" /> This icon was subjected to repeated repainting over the subsequent centuries, so that it is difficult to determine what the original image of Mary's face would have looked like. Guarducci states that in 1950 an ancient image of Mary<ref>{{cite web|url=http://vultus.stblogs.org/icona%20sta%20maria%20%20nuova.jpg|title=STblogs.org|access-date=2009-05-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303180545/http://vultus.stblogs.org/icona%20sta%20maria%20%20nuova.jpg|archive-date=2016-03-03|url-status=dead}}</ref> at the Church of [[Santa Francesca Romana]] was determined to be a very exact, but reverse mirror image of the original circular icon that was made in the 5th century and brought to Rome, where it has remained until the present.<ref>Margherita Guarducci, The Primacy of the Church of Rome, (San Francisco: [[Ignatius Press]], 1991) 93–101.</ref>

[[File:vladimirskaya.jpg|right|thumb|upright|The "[[Theotokos of Vladimir]]" icon (12th century) symbol of [[Russia]]]]

In later tradition the number of icons of Mary attributed to Luke greatly multiplied.<ref>James Hall, ''A History of Ideas and Images in Italian Art'', p. 111, 1983, John Murray, London, {{ISBN|0-7195-3971-4}}</ref> The [[Salus Populi Romani]], the [[Theotokos of Vladimir]], the [[Theotokos Iverskaya]] of [[Mount Athos]], the [[Theotokos of Tikhvin]], the [[Theotokos of Smolensk]] and the [[Black Madonna of Częstochowa]] are examples, and another is in the cathedral on [[St Thomas Mount]], which is believed to be one of the seven painted by [[Luke the Evangelist]] and brought to India by [[Thomas the Apostle]].<ref>Father H. Hosten in his book ''Antiquities'' notes the following "The picture at the mount is one of the oldest, and, therefore, one of the most venerable Christian paintings to be had in India."</ref> [[Ethiopia]] has at least seven more.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cormack|first=Robin|title=Painting the Soul; Icons, Death Masks and Shrouds|page=46|year=1997 | publisher=Reaktion Books, London}}</ref> Bissera V. Pentcheva concludes, "The myth [of Luke painting an icon] was invented in order to support the legitimacy of icon veneration during the [[Iconoclastic controversy]]" (8th and 9th centuries, much later than most art historians put it). According to Reformed Baptist pastor John Carpenter, by claiming the existence of a portrait of the Theotokos painted during her lifetime by the evangelist Luke, the [[iconodule]]s "fabricated evidence for the apostolic origins and divine approval of images."<ref name="auto1"/>

In the period before and during the [[Iconoclastic Controversy]], stories attributing the creation of icons to the New Testament period greatly increased, with [[Acheiropoieta#Conventional images believed to be authentic|several apostles and even Mary herself]] believed to have acted as the artist or commissioner of images (also embroidered in the case of Mary).

===Iconoclast period===
{{main|Byzantine Iconoclasm}}
[[File:Unknow - The Angel with Golden Hair - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|right|12th-century icon of [[Archangel Gabriel]] from [[Novgorod]], called ''[[The Angel with Golden Hair]]'', currently exhibited in the [[State Russian Museum]]]]

There was a continuing [[Aniconism in Christianity|opposition to images and their misuse]] within Christianity from very early times. "Whenever images threatened to gain undue influence within the church, theologians have sought to strip them of their power".<ref>Belting, ''Likeness and Presence'', Chicago and London, 1994.</ref> Further, "there is no century between the fourth and the eighth in which there is not some evidence of opposition to images even within the Church".<ref>Ernst Kitzinger, ''The Cult of Images in the Age before Iconoclasm'', Dumbarton Oaks, 1954, quoted by Pelikan, Jaroslav; ''The Spirit of Eastern Christendom'' 600–1700, University of Chicago Press, 1974.</ref> Nonetheless, popular favor for icons guaranteed their continued existence, while no systematic apologia for or against icons, or doctrinal authorization or condemnation of icons yet existed.

The use of icons was seriously challenged by Byzantine Imperial authority in the 8th century. Though by this time opposition to images was strongly entrenched in Judaism and Islam, attribution of the impetus toward an iconoclastic movement in Eastern Orthodoxy to Muslims or Jews "seems to have been highly exaggerated, both by contemporaries and by modern scholars".<ref>Pelikan, ''The Spirit of Eastern Christendom''</ref>

Though significant in the history of religious doctrine, the Byzantine controversy over images is not seen as of primary importance in Byzantine history; "[f]ew historians still hold it to have been the greatest issue of the period".<ref>Patricia Karlin-Hayter, ''Oxford History of Byzantium'', [[Oxford University Press]], 2002.</ref>

The Iconoclastic period began when images were banned by Emperor [[Leo III the Isaurian]] sometime between 726 and 730. Under his son [[Constantine V]], a council forbidding image veneration was held at [[Council of Hieria|Hieria]] near Constantinople in 754. Image veneration was later reinstated by the [[Irene (empress)|Empress Regent Irene]], under whom another council was held reversing the decisions of the previous iconoclast council and taking its title as [[Seventh Ecumenical Council]]. The council anathemized all who hold to iconoclasm, i.e. those who held that veneration of images constitutes idolatry. Then the ban was enforced again by [[Leo V the Armenian|Leo V]] in 815. Finally, icon veneration was decisively restored by [[Theodora (9th century)|Empress Regent Theodora]] in 843 at the [[Council of Constantinople (843)|Council of Constantinople]].

From then on all Byzantine coins had a religious image or symbol on the [[Obverse and reverse|reverse]], usually an image of Christ for larger denominations, with the head of the Emperor on the obverse, reinforcing the bond of the state and the divine order.<ref name="RC"/>

=={{transliteration|grc|Acheiropoieta}}==
{{main|Acheiropoieta}}
The tradition of {{transliteration|grc|acheiropoieta}} ({{lang|grc|ἀχειροποίητα}}, literally 'not-made-by-hand') accrued to icons that are alleged to have come into existence miraculously, not by a human painter. Such images functioned as powerful [[relic]]s as well as icons, and their images were naturally seen as authoritative as to the true appearance of the subject: naturally and especially because of the reluctance to accept mere human productions as embodying anything of the divine, a commonplace of Christian deprecation of man-made "[[Cult image|idol]]s". Like icons believed to be painted directly from the live subject, they therefore acted as important references for other images in the tradition. Beside the developed legend of the ''mandylion'' or [[Image of Edessa]] was the tale of the [[Veil of Veronica]], whose very name signifies "true icon" or "true image", the fear of a "false image" remaining strong.

==Stylistic developments==
[[File:Petersinai.jpg|thumb|upright|left|St Peter [[Encaustic painting|encaustic on panel]], {{c.|6th century}} ([[Saint Catherine's Monastery]])]]
Although there are earlier records of their use, no [[panel painting|panel]] icons earlier than the few from the 6th century preserved at the [[Greek Orthodox]] [[Saint Catherine's Monastery]] in [[Egypt]] survive,<ref>G Schiller (1971), ''Iconography of Christian Art'', Vol. I (English trans. from German), London: Lund Humphries, {{ISBN|0-85331-270-2}}</ref> as the other examples in Rome have all been drastically over-painted. The surviving evidence for the earliest depictions of Christ, Mary and saints therefore comes from wall-paintings, [[mosaic]]s and some carvings.<ref>{{harv|Beckwith|1979|pp=80–95}} Covers all these plus the few other painted images elsewhere.</ref> They are realistic in appearance, in contrast to the later stylization. They are broadly similar in style, though often much superior in quality, to the [[Fayum portraits|mummy portraits]] done in wax ([[encaustic painting|encaustic]]) and found at [[Fayyum]] in Egypt.

As can be judged from such items, the first depictions of Jesus were generic, rather than portrait images, generally representing him as a beardless young man. It was some time before the earliest examples of the long-haired, bearded face that was later to become standardized as the image of Jesus appeared. When they did begin to appear there was still variation. [[Augustine of Hippo]] (354–430)<ref>''De Trinitate'' 8:4–5.</ref> said that no one knew the appearance of Jesus or that of Mary. However, Augustine was not a resident of the Holy Land and therefore was not familiar with the local populations and their oral traditions. Gradually, paintings of Jesus took on characteristics of portrait images.

At this time the manner of depicting Jesus was not yet uniform, and there was some controversy over which of the two most common icons was to be favored. The first or "Semitic" form showed Jesus with short and "frizzy" hair; the second showed a bearded Jesus with hair parted in the middle, the manner in which the god Zeus was depicted. Theodorus Lector remarked<ref>''Church History'' 1:15.</ref> that of the two, the one with short and frizzy hair was "more authentic". To support his assertion, he relates a story (excerpted by John of Damascus) that a pagan commissioned to paint an image of Jesus used the "Zeus" form instead of the "Semitic" form, and that as punishment his hands withered.

Though their development was gradual, it is possible to date the full-blown appearance and general ecclesiastical (as opposed to simply popular or local) acceptance of Christian images as venerated and miracle-working objects to the 6th century, when, as Hans Belting writes,<ref>Belting, ''Likeness and Presence'', [[University of Chicago Press]], 1994.</ref> "we first hear of the church's use of religious images". "As we reach the second half of the sixth century, we find that images are attracting direct veneration and some of them are credited with the performance of miracles".<ref>{{cite book |first=Patricia |last=Karlin-Hayter |title=The Oxford History of Byzantium |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2002}}</ref> Cyril Mango writes,<ref>{{cite book |last=Mango |first=Cyril |title=The Art of the Byzantine Empire 312–1453 |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |date=1986}}</ref> "In the post-Justinianic period the icon assumes an ever increasing role in popular devotion, and there is a proliferation of miracle stories connected with icons, some of them rather shocking to our eyes". However, the earlier references by Eusebius and Irenaeus indicate veneration of images and reported miracles associated with them as early as the 2nd century.

==Symbolism==
In the icons of Eastern Orthodoxy, and of the early Medieval West, very little room is made for artistic license. Almost everything within the image has a symbolic aspect. Christ, the saints, and the angels all have halos. Angels (and often [[John the Baptist]]) have wings because they are messengers. Figures have consistent facial appearances, hold attributes personal to them, and use a few conventional poses. Archangels bear a thin staff and sometimes a mirror.

Colour plays an important role as well. Gold represents the radiance of Heaven; red, divine life. Blue is the colour of human life, white is the [[Uncreated Light]] of God, only used for [[Death and Resurrection of Jesus|resurrection]] and [[Transfiguration of Jesus|transfiguration]] of Christ. In icons of Jesus and Mary, Jesus wears red undergarment with a blue outer garment (representing God becoming human) and Mary wears a blue undergarment with a red overgarment (representing a human who was granted gifts by God), and thus the doctrine of [[Theosis (Eastern Orthodox theology)|deification]] is conveyed by icons. Letters are symbols too. Most icons incorporate some calligraphic text naming the person or event depicted. Even this is often presented in a stylized manner.

==Palladium and miracles==
{{main|Palladium (protective image)| Palladium (classical antiquity)| Acheiropoieta}}
{{more citations needed section|date=October 2023}}
[[File:Avraamovs Feodorovskaya.jpg|thumb|''[[Our Lady of St. Theodore]]'', a 1703 copy of the 11th-century icon, following the same Byzantine "Tender Mercy" type as the Vladimirskaya above]]

The historical tradition of icons used for purposes other than visual depiction are the [[Palladium (protective image)]], the [[Palladium (classical antiquity)]], the {{transliteration|grc|[[acheiropoieta]]}}, and various "folk" traditions associated with [[folk religion]]. Of these various forms the oldest tradition dates back to before the Christian era among the ancient Greeks. The various "folk" traditions are more poorly documented and often are associated with local folk narratives of uncertain origin.

In English, since around 1600, the word ''palladium'' has been used figuratively to mean anything believed to provide protection or safety,<ref>[[OED]], "Palladium, 2", first recorded use 1600</ref> and in particular in Christian contexts a sacred [[relic]] or icon believed to have a protective role in military contexts for a whole city, people or nation. Such beliefs first become prominent in the [[Eastern Christianity|Eastern Churches]] in the period after the reign of the Byzantine Emperor [[Justinian I]], and later spread to the Western church. Palladia were processed around the walls of besieged cities and sometimes carried into battle.<ref>Kitzinger, 109-112</ref>

==Eastern Orthodox teaching==
The Eastern Orthodox view of the origin of icons is generally quite different from that of most secular scholars and from some in contemporary Roman Catholic circles: "The Orthodox Church maintains and teaches that the sacred image has existed from the beginning of Christianity", [[Léonid Ouspensky]] has written.<ref>Leonid Ouspensky, ''Theology of the Icon'', St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1978.</ref> Accounts that some non-Orthodox writers consider legendary are accepted as history within Eastern Orthodoxy, because they are a part of church tradition. Thus accounts such as that of the miraculous "image not made by hands", and the [[Weeping Icon|weeping and moving]] "Mother of God of the Sign" of Novgorod are accepted as fact: "Church Tradition tells us, for example, of the existence of an Icon of the Savior during His lifetime (the 'Icon-Made-Without-Hands') and of Icons of the Most-Holy Theotokos [Mary] immediately after Him."<ref>''These Truths We Hold'', St. Tikhon's Seminary Press, 1986.</ref>

Eastern Orthodoxy further teaches that "a clear understanding of the importance of Icons" was part of the church from its very beginning, and has never changed, although explanations of their importance may have developed over time. This is because icon painting is rooted in the theology of the Incarnation (Christ being the {{transliteration|grc|eikon}} of God) which did not change, though its subsequent clarification within the Church occurred over the period of the first seven Ecumenical Councils. Icons also served as tools of edification for the illiterate faithful during most of the history of [[Christendom]]. Thus, icons are words in painting; they refer to the history of salvation and to its manifestation in concrete persons. In the Orthodox Church, "icons have always been understood as a visible gospel, as a testimony to the great things given man by God the incarnate Logos".<ref name="auto">{{cite journal |first=Constantine B. |last=Scouteris |author-link=Constantine B. Scouteris |title='Never as Gods': Icons and Their Veneration |journal=Sobornost |volume=6 |date=1984 |pages=6–18 |url= http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/liturgics/scouteris_icons.html |via=Orthodox Research Institute}}</ref> In the Council of 860 it was stated that "all that is uttered in words written in syllables is also proclaimed in the language of colors".<ref>Mansi xvi. 40D. See also Evdokimov, ''L'Orthodoxie'' (Neuchâtel 1965), p. 222.</ref>

Eastern Orthodoxy identifies the first instance of an image or icon in the Bible as the creation of man in God's own image (Septuagint Greek {{transliteration|grc|eikona}}), in Genesis 1:26–27.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|1:26–27}}</ref> In Exodus, God initially commanded the Israelites not to make any graven images. However, shortly thereafter, God instructed them to create images of cherubim and other similar beings, both in the form of statues and woven into tapestries. Later, when Solomon built the First Temple, he incorporated even more such imagery.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Exodus 20 Gill's Exposition |url=https://bibleapps.com/gill/exodus/20.htm |access-date=2025-04-28 |website=bibleapps.com}}</ref>{{bsn|date=April 2025}} Eastern Orthodoxy believe these qualify as icons, in that they were visible images depicting heavenly beings and, in the case of the cherubim, used to indirectly indicate God's presence above the Ark.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-12-17 |title=Icons in Orthodoxy: Frequent Questions and Answers |url=https://wongelforall.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/icons-in-orthodoxy-frequent-questions-and-answers/ |access-date=2025-04-28 |website=ወንጌል ለሁሉም Gospel For All |language=en}}</ref>{{bsn|date=April 2025}}

In the [[Book of Numbers]]<ref>{{Bibleverse|Numbers|21:4–9}}</ref> it is written that God told Moses to make a bronze serpent, ''[[Nehushtan]]'', and hold it up, so that anyone looking at the snake would be healed of their snake bites. In John 3, Jesus refers to the same serpent, saying that he must be lifted up in the same way that the serpent was. [[John of Damascus]] also regarded the brazen serpent as an icon. Further, Jesus Christ himself is called the "image of the invisible God" in Colossians 1:15,<ref>{{bibleverse|Colossians|1:15}}</ref> and is therefore in one sense an icon. As people are also made in God's images, people are also considered to be living icons, and are therefore "[[Thurible|censed]]" along with painted icons during Orthodox prayer services.

According to John of Damascus, anyone who tries to destroy icons "is the enemy of Christ, the Holy Mother of God and the saints, and is the defender of the Devil and his demons". This is because the theology behind icons is closely tied to the Incarnational theology of the humanity and divinity of Jesus, so that attacks on icons typically have the effect of undermining or attacking the Incarnation of Jesus himself as elucidated in the Ecumenical Councils.

[[Basil of Caesarea]], in his writing ''On the Holy Spirit'', says: "The honor paid to the image passes to the prototype". He also illustrates the concept by saying, "If I point to a statue of Caesar and ask you 'Who is that?', your answer would properly be, 'It is Caesar.' When you say such you do not mean that the stone itself is Caesar, but rather, the name and honor you ascribe to the statue passes over to the original, the archetype, Caesar himself."<ref>See also: {{cite book |last=Price |first=S. R. F. |title=Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor |edition=illustrated reprint |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |date=1986 |pages=204–205}} Price paraphrases St. Basil, ''Homily'' 24: "on seeing an image of the king in the square, one does not allege that there are two kings". Veneration of the image venerates its original: a similar analogy is implicit in the images used for the [[Imperial cult (ancient Rome)|Roman Imperial cult]]. It does not occur in the Gospels.</ref> [[File:Young Girl in a Chapel.png|left|thumb|350 px|''Young Girl in a Chapel'' by [[Théodore Ralli|Théodore Jacques Ralli]], 1873-1895, kissing an icon following Greek tradition.]] This is thus the approach to icons; to kiss an icon of Jesus, in the Eastern Orthodox view, is to show love towards Jesus himself, not mere wood and paint making up the physical substance of the icon. Worship of the icon as somehow entirely separate from its prototype is expressly forbidden by the Seventh Ecumenical Council.<ref name="auto"/>

Icons are often illuminated with a candle or jar of oil with a wick. (Beeswax for candles and olive oil for oil lamps are preferred because they burn very cleanly, although other materials are sometimes used.) The illumination of religious images with lamps or candles is an ancient practice pre-dating Christianity.

According to Fr. Les Bundy, "The Ecumenical Counciliar dogmatic decrees on icons refer, in fact, to all religious images including three-dimensional statues. Professor Sergios Verkhovskoi, the conservative professor of dogmatics at St. Vladimir’s Seminary forthrightly condemns as heretical anyone who declares statues as unorthodox or in any way canonically inferior to paintings."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bundy |first=Fr. Les |date=2017-02-06 |title=Orthodox Statues? |url=https://catalog.obitel-minsk.com/blog/2017/02/orthodox-statues |website=catalog.obitel-minsk.com}}</ref> Historically, the Orthodox Church has always approved of veneration of statues, for example, the statue of the Mother of God at Sokolica Monastery in Serbia,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sokolica Monastery |url=https://www.kosovo.net/esokolica.html |access-date=2024-07-30 |website=www.kosovo.net}}</ref> the devotional statues of St. Nil Stolbensky,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-02-24 |title=Nil Stolbensky |url=https://russianicons.wordpress.com/tag/nil-stolbensky/ |access-date=2024-07-30 |website=ICONS AND THEIR INTERPRETATION |language=en}}</ref> and those of St. Paraskeva.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Limited |first=Alamy |title=St.Paraskeva Pyatnitsa 17th century.Novgorod province popular in ancient russia.protector of travellers.tempera,gilding and levkas on carved wood Stock Photo - Alamy |url=https://www.alamy.com/stparaskeva-pyatnitsa-17th-centurynovgorod-province-popular-in-ancient-russiaprotector-of-travellerstemperagilding-and-levkas-on-carved-wood-image337509694.html |access-date=2024-07-30 |website=www.alamy.com |language=en}}</ref>

<gallery widths="165px" heights="200px">
File:Eastern Orthodox prayer corner.jpg|A fairly elaborate [[Eastern Orthodox]] icon corner as would be found in a private home
File:Vsex skorbyashix Radost (litografia).jpg|A precious Russian icon of [[Joy of All Who Sorrow]], 1862
File:Italo-Byzantinischer Maler des 13. Jahrhunderts 001.jpg|A somewhat disinterested treatment of the emotional subject and painstaking attention to the throne and other details of the material world distinguish this [[Italo-Byzantine]] work by a medieval [[Sicily|Sicilian]] master from works by imperial icon-painters of [[Constantinople]].
</gallery>

==Icon painting tradition by region==
{{refimprove section|date=September 2025}}
===Byzantine Empire===
{{see also|Byzantine art}}
[[File:Ohrid annunciation icon.jpg|thumb|A key piece of [[Palaiologan era|Palaiologan-era]] [[mannerism]]—the [[Annunciation]] icon from [[Ohrid]] in [[North Macedonia]]]]

Of the icon painting tradition that developed in Byzantium, with Constantinople as the chief city, we have only a few icons from the 11th century and none preceding them, in part because of the Iconoclastic reforms during which many were destroyed or lost, and also because of plundering by the [[Republic of Venice]] in 1204 during the [[Fourth Crusade]], and finally the [[Fall of Constantinople]] in 1453.

It was only in the [[Komnenian period]] (1081–1185) that the cult of the icon became widespread in the Byzantine world, partly on account of the dearth of richer materials (such as mosaics, [[ivory]], and [[vitreous enamel]]s), but also because an ''[[iconostasis]]'' a special screen for icons was introduced then in ecclesiastical practice. The style of the time was severe, hieratic and distant.

In the late Comnenian period this severity softened, and emotion, formerly avoided, entered icon painting. Major monuments for this change include the murals at [[Daphni Monastery]] ({{c.|1100}}) and the [[Church of St. Panteleimon (Gorno Nerezi)|Church of St. Panteleimon]] near [[Skopje]] (1164). The [[Theotokos of Vladimir]] ({{c.|1115}}) is probably the most representative example of the new trend towards spirituality and emotion.

The tendency toward emotionalism in icons continued in the [[Palaiologos|Paleologan period]], which began in 1261. Palaiologan art reached its pinnacle in mosaics such as those of [[Chora Church]]. In the last half of the 14th century, Palaiologan saints were painted in an exaggerated manner, very slim and in contorted positions – a style known as the Palaiologan Mannerism, of which [[:File:Ohrid annunciation icon.jpg|Ochrid's Annunciation]] is a superb example.

After 1453, the Byzantine tradition was carried on in regions previously influenced by its religion and culture—in the Balkans, Russia, and other Slavic countries, [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] and [[Armenia]] in the Caucasus, and among Eastern Orthodox minorities in the Islamic world. In the Greek-speaking world [[Crete]], ruled by [[Republic of Venice|Venice]] until the mid-17th century, was an important centre of painted icons, as home of the [[Cretan School]], exporting many to Europe.

===Crete===
{{main|Cretan school}}

Crete was under Venetian control from 1204 and became a thriving center of art with eventually a {{lang|it|Scuola di San Luca}}, or organized painter's guild, the [[Guild of Saint Luke]], on Western lines. Cretan painting was heavily patronized both by Catholics of Venetian territories and by Eastern Orthodox. For ease of transport, Cretan painters specialized in panel paintings, and developed the ability to work in many styles to fit the taste of various patrons. [[El Greco]], who moved to [[Venice]] after establishing his reputation in Crete, is the most famous artist of the school, who continued to use many Byzantine conventions in his works. In 1669 the city of Heraklion, on Crete, which at one time boasted at least 120 painters, fell to the Turks. From that time Greek icon painting went into a decline, with a revival attempted in the 20th century by art reformers such as [[Photis Kontoglou]], who emphasized a return to earlier styles.

===Russia===
{{main|Russian icons|List of oldest Russian icons}}
{{see also|Novgorod school|Moscow school|Stroganov school}}

Russian icons are typically paintings on wood, often small, though some in churches and monasteries may be as large as a table top. Many religious homes in Russia have icons hanging on the wall in the {{transliteration|ru|krasny ugol}}—the "red" corner (see [[Icon corner]]). There is a rich history and elaborate [[religious symbolism]] associated with icons. In Russian churches, the [[nave]] is typically separated from the [[sanctuary]] by an ''[[iconostasis]]'', a wall of icons.

The use and making of icons entered [[Kievan Rus']] following its conversion to Orthodox Christianity from the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire in 988 AD. As a general rule, these icons strictly followed models and formulas hallowed by usage, some of which had originated in Constantinople. As time passed, the Russians—notably [[Andrei Rublev]] and [[Dionisius]]—widened the vocabulary of iconic types and styles far beyond anything found elsewhere. The personal, improvisatory and creative traditions of Western European religious art are largely lacking in Russia before the 17th century, when [[Simon Ushakov]]'s painting became strongly influenced by religious paintings and engravings from Protestant as well as Catholic Europe.

In the mid-17th century, changes in liturgy and practice instituted by [[Patriarch Nikon of Moscow]] resulted in a split in the [[Russian Orthodox Church]]. The traditionalists, the persecuted "Old Ritualists" or "[[Old Believers]]", continued the traditional stylization of icons, while the State Church modified its practice. From that time icons began to be painted not only in the traditional stylized and nonrealistic mode, but also in a mixture of Russian stylization and Western European realism, and in a Western European manner very much like that of Catholic religious art of the time. The [[Stroganov school]] and the icons from [[Nevyansk]] rank among the last important schools of Russian icon-painting.

<gallery widths="155px" heights="200px">
File:Descent into Hell by Dionisius and workshop (Ferapontov monastery).jpg|Muscovite Mannerism: ''[[Harrowing of Hell]]'', by [[Dionisius]] and his workshop.
File:rublev's saviour.jpg|[[Christ the Redeemer (icon)|Christ the Redeemer]] (1410s, by [[Andrei Rublev]])
</gallery>

=== Romania ===
{{main|Romanian Orthodox icons}}

In [[Romania]], icons painted as reversed images behind glass and set in frames were common in the 19th century and are still made. The process is known as [[reverse glass painting]]. "In the Transylvanian countryside, the expensive icons on panels imported from Moldavia, Wallachia, and Mt. Athos were gradually replaced by small, locally produced icons on glass, which were much less expensive and thus accessible to the Transylvanian peasants".<ref>Dancu, Juliana and Dumitru Dancu, ''Romanian Icons on Glass'', [[Wayne State University Press]], 1982.</ref>

===Serbia===
[[File:VergineTricherusa.jpg|thumb|right|[[Trojeručica]] meaning "Three-handed Theotokos", the most important Serb icon]]
The earliest historical records about icons in Serbia dates back to the period of [[Nemanjić dynasty]]. One of the notable schools of [[Serbian art|Serb]] icons was active in the [[Bay of Kotor]] from the 17th century to the 19th century.<ref>{{Cite web|title=[Projekat Rastko - Boka] Ikone bokokotorske skole|url=https://www.rastko.rs/rastko-bo/umetnost/bokokotorske_ikone.html|website=www.rastko.rs|access-date=2020-05-10}}</ref>

[[Trojeručica]] meaning "Three-handed Theotokos" is the most important icon of the [[Serbian Orthodox Church]] and main icon of [[Mount Athos]].

===Ukraine===
{{see|Icon painting in Ukraine}}
During the period of [[Kievan Rus]], an indigenous school of icon painting developed in the lands of Ukraine, inspired by Byzantine examples. With the rise of [[Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia|Galicia-Volhynia]], a local school also developed in the area, influenced in its turn by Kyivan icons. Influence of Galician icon painting spread across the [[Carpathians]], reaching as far as [[Presov]] in modern [[Slovakia]]. Some icons were painted by monks, but most were created by professional artists. In the 16th century [[Lviv]] became the main centre of painting in Ukrainian lands, and by the middle of the next century Orthodox artists achieved prominent positions in the city's painters' [[guild]]. Among notable icon painters of the area during that time was [[Ivan Rutkovych]], whose art demonstrated a strong tendency to [[realism (arts)|realism]].

Starting from the early 17th century, icon painting saw a revival in Central and Eastern Ukraine, supported both by the church and by the rising [[Cossack starshyna|Cossack elite]]. The strict Byzantine style prevalent in icons of the previous era gave way to the more expressive style of [[Ukrainian Baroque]]. Some icons created in the [[Cossack Hetmanate]] depict not only religious figures, but also civic rulers such as [[hetmans]], as well as members of their families. By the end of the 18th century icon gradually evolved into painting on biblical motives, as demonstrated in the works of [[Vladimir Borovikovsky|Volodymyr Borovykovsky]]. A new revival of this art form in Ukraine took place in the early 20th century under the influence of the school of [[Mykhailo Boychuk]], whose style influenced other painters, many of whom were active in the [[Ukrainian diaspora]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Icon|url=https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CI%5CC%5CIcon.htm|website=[[Encyclopedia of Ukraine]]|access-date=2025-07-16}}</ref>

===Egypt and Ethiopia===
{{main|Coptic art}}
[[File:Virgin Mary nursing the infant Christ.jpg|thumb|Ethiopian Orthodox painting of the [[Virgin Mary]] nursing the infant Christ]]
The [[Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria]] and [[Oriental Orthodoxy]] also have distinctive, living icon painting traditions. Coptic icons have their origin in the Hellenistic art of Egyptian Late Antiquity, as exemplified by the [[Fayum mummy portraits]]. Beginning in the 4th century, churches painted their walls and made icons to reflect an authentic expression of their faith.

===Aleppo===
{{main|Aleppo school}}
[[File:Forty Martyrs Cathedral of Aleppo, the Last Judgement.jpg|thumb|''The Last Judgement'' by [[Nehmatallah Hovsep]] (1703), one of the most famous icons of the [[Aleppo School]]<ref>[http://digitool.rpi.edu:8881/R/N8528GC7E21FNNIF84NBC5NH4V5A7KIFB8I15TXRSVYSDBHTSY-00188?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=27944&local_base=GEN01&pds_handle=GUEST Cathedral of the Forty Martyrs: fresco of the Last Judgement] (Rensselaer Digital Collections).</ref>]]

The Aleppo School was a school of icon-painting, founded by the priest [[Yusuf al-Musawwir]] (also known as Joseph the Painter) and active in [[Aleppo]], which was then a part of the [[Ottoman Empire]], between at least 1645<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last=Lyster |editor-first=William |title=The Cave Church of Paul the Hermit at the Monastery of St. Paul in Egypt |date=2008 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=dismAQAAMAAJ |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |page=267|isbn=9780300118476 }}</ref> and 1777.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Immerzeel |first=Mat |title=The Wall Paintings in the Church of Mar Elian at Homs: A 'Restoration Project' of a Nineteenth-century Palestinian Master |journal=Eastern Christian Art |date=2005 |volume=2 |url= https://poj.peeters-leuven.be/secure/POJ/downloadpdf.php?ticket_id=5d1096e7c2dca |page=157|doi=10.2143/ECA.2.0.2004557 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Western Christianity==
Although the word "icon" is not generally used in [[Western Christianity]], there are religious works of art which were largely patterned on Byzantine works, and equally conventional in composition and depiction. Until the 13th century, icon-like depictions of sacred figures followed Eastern patterns—although very few survive from this early period. Italian examples are in a style known as [[Italo-Byzantine]].

From the 13th century, the Western tradition came slowly to allow the artist far more flexibility, and a more realist approach to the figures. If only because there was a much smaller number of skilled artists, the quantity of works of art, in the sense of panel paintings, was much smaller in the West, and in most Western settings a single [[diptych]] as an altarpiece, or in a domestic room, probably stood in place of the larger collections typical of Orthodox "[[icon corner]]s".

Only in the 15th century did production of painted works of art begin to approach Eastern levels, supplemented by mass-produced imports from the [[Cretan School]]. In this century, the use of icon-like portraits in the West was enormously increased by the introduction of [[old master print]]s on paper, mostly [[woodcut]]s which were produced in vast numbers (although hardly any survive). They were mostly sold, hand-coloured, by churches, and the smallest sizes (often only an inch high) were affordable even by [[peasant]]s, who glued or pinned them straight onto a wall.

During the time of the [[Reformation]], the emergence of the [[Lutheran]] and the [[Reformed Christianity|Reformed]] traditions occurred. Lutherans favored sacred art, including the use of icons (cf. [[Lutheran art]]). On the other hand, the Reformed (Calvinists) were generally iconoclastic.<ref name="Lamport2017">{{cite book|last=Lamport|first=Mark A.|title=Encyclopedia of Martin Luther and the Reformation|date=31 August 2017|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|language=English|isbn=9781442271593|page=138|quote=Lutherans continued to worship in pre-Reformation churches, generally with few alterations to the interior. It has even been suggested that in Germany to this day one finds more ancient Marian altarpieces in Lutheran than in Catholic churches. Thus in Germany and in Scandinavia many pieces of medieval art and architecture survived. Joseph Leo Koerner has noted that Lutherans, seeing themselves in the tradition of the ancient, apostolic church, sought to defend as well as reform the use of images. "An empty, white-washed church proclaimed a wholly spiritualized cult, at odds with Luther's doctrine of Christ's real presence in the sacraments" (Koerner 2004, 58). In fact, in the 16th century some of the strongest opposition to destruction of images came not from Catholics but from Lutherans against Calvinists: "You black Calvinist, you give permission to smash our pictures and hack our crosses; we are going to smash you and your Calvinist priests in return" (Koerner 2004, 58). Works of art continued to be displayed in Lutheran churches, often including an imposing large crucifix in the sanctuary, a clear reference to Luther's ''theologia crucis''. ... In contrast, Reformed (Calvinist) churches are strikingly different. Usually unadorned and somewhat lacking in aesthetic appeal, pictures, sculptures, and ornate altar-pieces are largely absent; there are few or no candles; and crucifixes or crosses are also mostly absent.}}</ref> At present, icons "play a role in Lutheran liturgical practice."<ref name="ATH2022">{{cite web |title=Images Within Lutheran Liturgical Living |url=https://allthehousehold.com/images-within-lutheran-liturgical-living/ |publisher=All The Household |access-date=13 June 2025 |date=27 July 2022}}</ref> The Lutheran breviary ''[[For All the Saints: A Prayer Book for and by the Church|For All the Saints]]'' is illustrated with several icons.<ref name="Schumacher2014">{{cite web |last1=Schumacher |first1=Frederick J. |title=A Lutheran Learns to Read and Write Icons |url=https://mcsletstalk.org/religion-and-the-arts/a-lutheran-learns-to-read-and-write-icons/ |publisher=Let's Talk |access-date=13 June 2025 |date=30 January 2014}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Archangel Michael Hajdudorog.JPG|A Western-style icon of the archangel [[Michael (archangel)|Michael]] in the Greek Catholic [[Iconostasis of the Cathedral of Hajdúdorog]]
File:UmeåStadsKyrka-vägg.jpg|An icon of Christ at [[Umeå City Church|Umeå City Lutheran Church]], Sweden
File:Czestochowska.jpg|An icon of the [[Black Madonna of Częstochowa]], one of the [[national symbol]]s of [[Poland]]
File:Icon Cathedral 3.jpg|alt=Icon of the Melanesian Martyrs at Canterbury Cathedral (Anglican Communion)|Icon of the [[Melanesian Brotherhood]] martyrs at [[Canterbury Cathedral]] (Anglican Communion)
File:Chapkanov-Saint-Nicholas.jpg|A modern metal icon of [[Saint Nicholas]] by the Bulgarian artist Georgi 'Chapa' Chapkanov. This depiction differs radically from traditional Orthodox iconography. [[Legislative Council of the Falkland Islands|Gilbert House]], [[Stanley, Falkland Islands]].
</gallery>

===Catholic view===
The [[Catholic Church]] accepted the decrees of the [[Iconodulism|iconodule]] [[Seventh ecumenical council|Seventh Ecumenical Council]] regarding images. There is some minor difference, however, in the Catholic attitude to images from that of the Orthodox. Following [[Gregory the Great]], Catholics emphasize the role of images as the {{lang|la|[[Biblia pauperum|Biblia Pauperum]]}}, the "Bible of the Poor", from which those who could not read could nonetheless learn.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ArtWay.eu |url=https://www.artway.eu/content.php?id=2258&lang=en&action=show |access-date=2022-08-25 |website=www.artway.eu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Karen |date=2010-05-12 |title=Biblia Pauperum |url=https://owlinthepulpit.wordpress.com/2010/05/12/biblia-pauperum/ |access-date=2022-08-25 |website=the owl in the pulpit |language=en}}</ref>

Catholics also, however, share the same viewpoint with the Orthodox when it comes to image veneration, believing that whenever approached, sacred images are to be shown reverence. Though using both flat wooden panel and stretched canvas paintings, Catholics traditionally have also favored images in the form of three-dimensional statuary, whereas in the East, statuary is much less widely employed.

===Lutheran view===
[[File:Štítnik12.jpg|thumb|Icons adorn the Lutheran church in [[Štítnik]], Slovakia]]
In the Lutheran tradition, "icons’ functions are meant to express the theological teaching of the church and to be used as a reminder of such teachings." Icons are often placed on the [[home altar]]s of Lutheran households to turn the mind toward God.<ref name="ATH2022"/>

A joint Lutheran–Orthodox statement made in the 7th Plenary of the Lutheran–Orthodox Joint Commission, in July 1993 in Helsinki, reaffirmed the [[ecumenical council]] decisions on the nature of Christ and the veneration of images:

{{blockquote|7. As Lutherans and Orthodox we affirm that the teachings of the ecumenical councils are authoritative for our churches. The ecumenical councils maintain the integrity of the teaching of the undivided Church concerning the saving, illuminating/justifying and glorifying acts of God and reject heresies which subvert the saving work of God in Christ. Orthodox and Lutherans, however, have different histories. Lutherans have received the Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan Creed with the addition of the [[filioque]]. The Seventh Ecumenical Council, the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, which rejected iconoclasm and restored the veneration of icons in the churches, was not part of the tradition received by the Reformation. Lutherans, however, rejected the iconoclasm of the 16th century, and affirmed the distinction between adoration due to the Triune God alone and all other forms of veneration (CA 21). Through historical research this council has become better known. Nevertheless it does not have the same significance for Lutherans as it does for the Orthodox. Yet, Lutherans and Orthodox are in agreement that the [[Second Council of Nicaea]] confirms the christological teaching of the earlier councils and in setting forth the role of images (icons) in the lives of the faithful reaffirms the reality of the incarnation of the eternal Word of God, when it states: "The more frequently, Christ, Mary, the mother of God, and the saints are seen, the more are those who see them drawn to remember and long for those who serve as models, and to pay these icons the tribute of salutation and respectful veneration. Certainly this is not the full adoration in accordance with our faith, which is properly paid only to the divine nature, but it resembles that given to the figure of the honored and life-giving cross, and also to the holy books of the gospels and to other sacred objects" (Definition of the Second Council of Nicaea).<ref>{{cite web |title=The Ecumenical Councils and Authority in and of the Church (Lutheran-Orthodox Dialogue Statement, 1993) |url=https://www.lutheranworld.org/sites/default/files/1993-Lutheran_Orthodox_Dialogue-EN.pdf |publisher=The Lutheran World Federation |date=July 1993 |access-date=10 March 2020 |archive-date=12 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112041246/https://www.lutheranworld.org/sites/default/files/1993-Lutheran_Orthodox_Dialogue-EN.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>}}

==See also==
* [[Analogion]]
* [[Christian symbolism]]
* [[Council of Constantinople (843)]]
* [[Cult image]]
* [[Early Christian art and architecture]]
* [[Holy card]]
* [[Icon of Christ of Latomos]]
* [[Iconoclasm]]
* [[Murti]]
* [[Orans]]
* [[Panagia Ierosolymitissa]]
* [[Podea]]
* [[Proskynetarion]]
* [[Religious image]]
* [[Riza]]
* [[Warsaw Icon Museum]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*{{Cite book |last=Beckwith |first=John |title=Early Christian and Byzantine Art |edition=2nd |date=1979 |series=[[Penguin Books|Penguin]] History of Art series |isbn=0-14-056033-5 }}

==Further reading==
*{{Cite book |last=Cawthorne |first=Nigel |author-link=Nigel Cawthorne |title=The Art of the Icon |date=2000 |publisher=Hamlyn |isbn=978-0-60059-895-4 }}
*{{cite book |last=Evans |first=Helen C. |title=Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261–1557) |location=New York |publisher=[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] |date=2004 |isbn=1-58839-113-2 |url= https://archive.org/details/byzantiumfaithpo0000unse |url-access=registration |ref=none}}
*{{cite book |last1=Evans |first1=Helen C. |last2=Wixom |first2=William D. |title=The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843–1261 |location=New York |publisher=[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] |date=1997 |isbn=978-0-8109-6507-2 |url= https://archive.org/details/gloryofbyzantium00evan |url-access=registration |ref=none}}

== External links ==
{{commons and category|Icon}}
*[http://www.orthodoxiconography.com/ ''Orthodox Iconography''], by Elias Damianakis
*[http://archangelsbooks.com/articles/iconography/DiscourseIcon.asp "A Discourse in Iconography"] by [[John of Shanghai and San Francisco]], ''Orthodox Life'' Vol. 30, No. 1 (January–February 1980), pp. 42–45 (via Archangel Books).
*[http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/general/orth_icon.aspx "The Iconic and Symbolic in Orthodox Iconography"], at ''Orthodox Info''
*[http://en.iconskarakallou.gr/icon-worship/ "Icon & Worship{{snd}}Icons of Karakallou Monastery, Mt. Athos"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140418105923/http://en.iconskarakallou.gr/icon-worship/ |date=2014-04-18 }}
*{{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130103102324/http://www.ikonograph.com/ ''Ikonograph'']}} – contemporary Byzantine icon studio, iconography school, and Orthodox resources]
**{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110508013624/http://www.ikonograph.com/F.Theodore.html "Orthodox Iconography"]}} Theodore Koufos at ''Ikonograph''
**{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110515130511/http://www.ikonograph.com/murals.html "Contemporary Orthodox Byzantine Style Murals"]}} – gallery, at ''Ikonograph''
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20200801180014/http://iconography-guide.com/ ''Iconography Guide'']}} – free e-learning site
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150121054755/http://traditionaliconography.com/webgalleryart.html "On the Difference of Western Religious Art and Orthodox Iconography"], by icon painter Paul Azkoul
*[http://www.churchofthenativity.net/orthodoxy/icons/ "Explanation of Orthodox Christian Icons"], from Church of the Nativity
**[http://www.churchofthenativity.net/orthodoxy/rules-of-piety/concerning-the-veneration-of-icons/ "Concerning the Veneration of Icons"], from Church of the Nativity
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080131084350/http://www.antiochian.org/1103744287 "Holy Icons: Theology in Color"], from Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese
*[http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/Athos/General/Art.html "Icons of Mount Athos"], from ''Macedonian Heritage''
*[http://www.goarch.org/resources/clipart/ "Icons"], from Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
*[http://www.icon-art.info/gallery.php?lng=en ''Icon Art''] – gallery of icons, murals, and mosaics (mostly Russian) from the 11th to the 20th century
*[http://www.eikonografos.com ''Eikonografos''] – collection of Byzantine icons
*[http://www.pallasweb.com/deesis ''My World of Byzantium''] by Bob Atchison, on the [[Deësis]] icon of Christ at Hagia Sophia, and four galleries of other icons

{{Byzantine Empire topics|state=expanded}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Eastern Orthodox icons| ]]
[[Category:Christian iconography]]
[[Category:Christian religious objects]]
[[Category:Christian terminology]]
[[Category:Eastern Christian liturgical objects]]
[[Category:Sacramentals]]