The centenary of the Basilica of Mount Tabor or the Transfiguration through the prism of art
In this year of 2024, the Custody of the Holy Land is delighted to celebrate with the local and Universal Church the centenary of the Basilica of the Transfiguration built on the slopes of Mount Tabor.
AN ARCHITECT AT THE SERVICE OF THE HOLY LAND
Since 1631, when permission for the Franciscans to settle on Mount Tabor was obtained from the Druze emir FAKHR EL-DIN, the Franciscan presence has gone through many up and downs and building a large shrine was for a long time difficult. From the very first years of their becoming established, the friars were prohibited from building a church and it was not until 1858 that they could build a small chapel. In 1877 they built the convent and Casa Nova; a permanent community moved in in 1879.
In 1912, the guardian of Mount Tabor started studies and procedures with the engineer Giulio BARLUZZI to build a new shrine, but the Italian-Turkish war put a stop to this project. Finally, it was on 21 October 1919 (on the seventh centenary of the arrival of St Francis in the Holy Land) that the first stone of the Basilica built under the direction of the BARLUZZI brothers was laid.
Built between 1919 and 1924, the Basilica of Mount Tabor is one of the main works by the architect Antonio BARLUZZI in the Holy Land. He also designed the Basilica of the Agony in Gethsemane, the churches of the Flagellation in Jerusalem, of the Visitation in Ain Karem, of the Beatitudes on the Lake of Tiberias, of the Shepherds’ Field in Bethlehem and of Dominus Flevit on the Mount of Olives. These Holy Places will be highlighted in one of the rooms of the Terra Sancta Museum – Art and History which will illustrate the acquisition of the shrines and display some of the original preparatory drawings by BARLUZZI. This room will show the efforts made by the friars to allow people to live and pray in the places of the Redemption in the name of the Universal Church.
THE SPLENDOUR OF THE MOSAICS AND THE STAINED GLASS WINDOWS
The interior of the Basilica was conceived to be particularly bright and to bring out the splendour of the mosaics made by the firm MONTICELLI from the preparatory drawings of Rodolfo VILLANI.
At the centre of the basilica, behind the altar, the main mosaic represents the event that took place here: the Transfiguration of Christ with Moses and Elijah at his side and the disciples Peter, James and John, who are looking upwards. In the first side chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the mosaic shows two angels in adoration before the eye (God the Father) while in the second side chapel, there are two angels in adoration before the dove (the Holy Spirit). With the representation of the Transfiguration (God the Son), the three mosaics in the upper basilica evoke the Most Holy Trinity.
In the crypt, we can see mosaics on both sides of the altar which illustrate four expressions of different manifestations of Jesus, each surrounded by three angels. The humanity of Jesus is evoked by Jesus as a child, Jesus who gives himself in the Eucharist through the host held by the angel in the centre, Jesus who offers himself in sacrifice like the Sacrificial Lamb and lastly, Jesus in the glory of his Resurrection through the open tomb. Passages from the Holy Scriptures linked to the event in question are transcribed under each of the representations.
“Filius datus est nobis” For a child is born to us. (Isaiah 9, 6): the child Jesus (the man the disciples knew)
“Ego sum panis vita” I am the bread of life. (John 6, 35): Jesus the Eucharist
“Fui mortuus et ecce sum vivens” Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever (Revelation 1,18): Jesus the Sacrificial Lamb
“Surrexit non est hic” He has been raised; he is not here (Mark 16, 6): Jesus Risen
In addition, the stained glass window that adorns the end of the crypt shows two peacocks surrounding the chalice and the triangle of the Trinity, a fifth manifestation of God in which Jesus is included.
The preparatory drawings by VILLANI are kept at the delegation of the Holy Land in Rome and this iconography is also found on the liturgical ornament made in 1935 specifically for the great solemnities in the Basilica that had just been inaugurated.
FROM THE MOSAICS TO THE ORNAMENTS
Therefore, we find on this ornament studied by Maria-Pia PETTINAU and which we spoke about in an earlier article, the manifestation of the Lamb on the front part of the chasuble and the Resurrection on the back. The cape, on the other hand, repeats the central mosaic of the Transfiguration while one of the dalmatics represents the manifestation of Jesus the Man, the Nativity and a second dalmatic the manifestation of Jesus the Eucharist. As for the peacocks we can see on the stained glass windows, they can also be found on various pieces of the ornament. This ornament will be presented in one of rooms in the museum which will highlight the gifts sent to the Holy Land from central Europe, both from Poland and from the former empire of the Hapsburgs.
This ornament was effectively made in Vienna in 1935 by the congregation of the Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus; the nuns noted having received “from the Commissary General for the Holy Land, Father Pirmin HASENÖHRL, the very agreeable commission of making an ornament in gold brocade for Mount Tabor.”
The Terra Sancta Museum – Art and History is delighted to join in the celebrations of the centenary of the Basilica of the Transfiguration and to share with you the inextricable bond between its collections and the Holy Places. An announcement for future pilgrims and residents in the Holy Land: do not miss the exhibition “Lux Tenebra” proposed by the Pro Terra Sancta association at the Basilica of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, which was inaugurated in April and is open for the whole year of the centenary.
