In 313
emperor Constantin of Rome had a vision. If he would use the Christian sign in
the battle the next day, he would win. Constantin had the Christian sign
painted on the shields of his soldiers and indeed, he won the battle.
This was
an important moment in the history of Christianity.
From the
beginning Christianity had been a small group within the Roman Empire and they
had a lot of competition from all the other religions in the Empire. And the
Christians were prosecuted by many emperors.
In those
first centuries it never looked like Christianity would once become the
dominant religion in the empire.
Only this
changed when Constantin had his dream. Constantin (who was only baptized
himself when he was at his deathbed) stopped the prosecutions and actively
helped the Christians. New churches were built and Christianity slowly gained a
leading role.
Where you
see elements of the different religions mixed together, this slowly changed
until only the Christian elements remained. Within a couple of decades Rome had
changed into the centre of the Christian world and it would influence the world
for all centuries to come.
In Amsterdam
there is an exhibition in the Nieuwe Kerk (new church) about these changes in
Rome during the 4th century. The exhibition is set up very well and
takes you from a multicultural city through the prosecutions to the triumph of
Christianity.
It is very
impressive, also because of all the special object that can be seen and are on
loan from the Vatican or the Capitolinian Museums.
You can see
for example the giant head and hand that once belonged to one of the statues of
Constantin, but there are also a statue of Mithras, a statue of the good
Shepard, and early depictions of Jesus from the sarcophaguses of the early
Christians.
A very special
exhibition.
Comments
Post a Comment