The Wienhausen Grabeschristus: exploring 15th century cloister worship

The Wienhausen Grabeschristus: exploring 15th century cloister worship Public Deposited

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Creator

Guinness, Katherine Hunt
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Art and Art History

Abstract

This thesis examines the Wienhausen Effigy of Christ-- a 15th century religious artwork from the Wienhausen Cloister in northern Germany. It will attempt to explain the Effigy's origins, usage, and overall history. By examining it I hope to break through the relative mystery surrounding this unique artwork, and show how its position in the Cloister as a liturgical object, reliquary, pilgrimage site, meditational tool, and subject of intense religious performance and mysticism, is both common for the time and highly unusual. In this way, it will be a valuable tool to understanding how 15th century women, particularly nuns, worshiped, thought, and lived. This thesis tracks the known history of the Effigy as well as the Wienhausen Cloister. Research has been collected from the Wienhausen Kloister's archives, primary texts, personal interviews, journal articles, and other publications. This thesis will also draw on more contemporary ideas of pre-Reformation art and performance.

Date of publication