Tuesday, August 28, 2012

God was watching

The Christianization of Poland (1889) by the Polish painter Jan Matejko (1838-1893). Above all it's a symbolic painting. People are plowing, cutting timber while others are being baptized and all is illuminated by the divine light from above.

2 comments:

  1. When did the first baptism occur in Poland? I wonder what the situation was, in 1889, that would have promoted an interest in medieval church history. Some increased sense of nationalism, perhaps.

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  2. Nobody will know when the first baptism occured because Bohemian monks were already working for years when the first king of Poland Mieszko I was baptized in 966.
    So I think that Matejko refers to 966 which is the "official" entry of Poland into the Christian world.

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