A calvary is a type of monumental public
Christian cross, sometimes encased in an open
shrine
A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy sacred space, space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor worship, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, Daemon (mythology), daem ...
. Wayside crosses with or more commonly without sculpture can also be found in Devon e.g. the
Dartmoor Crosses
The Dartmoor crosses are a series of stone crosses found in Dartmoor National Park in the centre of Devon, England. Many of them are old navigational aids, needed because of the remoteness of the moorland and its typically bad weather. Some mark ...
and Cornwall and in other parts of Britain referred to as
High Crosses
A high cross or standing cross ( ga, cros ard / ardchros, gd, crois àrd / àrd-chrois, cy, croes uchel / croes eglwysig) is a free-standing Christian cross made of stone and often richly decorated. There was a unique Early Medieval traditi ...
. Usually a calvary has three crosses, that of
Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
and those of
impenitent thief
The impenitent thief is a man described in the New Testament account of the Crucifixion of Jesus. In the Gospel narrative, two criminal bandits are crucified alongside Jesus. In the first two Gospels (Matthew and Mark), they both join the crowd ...
and
penitent thief
The Penitent Thief, also known as the Good Thief, Wise Thief, Grateful Thief, or Thief on the Cross, is one of two unnamed thieves in Luke's account of the crucifixion of Jesus in the New Testament. The Gospel of Luke describes him asking Jesus ...
.
History
The oldest surviving ''calvaire'', dating to between 1450 and 1460, is at the Chapelle
Notre-Dame-de-Tronoën in the town of
Saint-Jean-Trolimon
Saint-Jean-Trolimon (; ) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.
Population
Inhabitants of Saint-Jean-Trolimon are called in French ''Trolimonais''.
Breton language
The municipality launched a linguistic p ...
, in south
Finistère
Finistère (, ; br, Penn-ar-Bed ) is a department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090. , near the Pointe de la Torche. This is raised on a large base which also includes carved representations of the
Last Supper
Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art have been undertaken by artistic masters for centuries, ...
and scenes from the passion. Calvaires played an important role in Breton pilgrimages known as
Pardons
A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...
, forming a focal point for public festivals. In some instances the Calvary forms part of an outdoor pulpit or throne.
Calvaires are to be found in large numbers throughout Brittany, and come in many varied forms.
A 16th-century ''calvaire'' from
Louargat
Louargat (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department of Brittany in northwestern France.
Geography Climate
Louargat has a oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification ''Cfb''). The average annual temperature in Louargat is . The average ...
, Brittany, transplanted to serve as a World War I memorial, stands at the ''Carrefour de la Rose'' near the Belgian town of
Boezinge
Boezinge (; vls, Boezienge) is a village in the municipality of Ypres in the Belgian province of West Flanders. Boezinge can be reached via the N369 road in the direction of Diksmuide. It was an independent municipality until 1977.
History
Boezin ...
north of Ypres. The most notable Calvary monument outside Brittany is at
Lourdes
Lourdes (, also , ; oc, Lorda ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for the Château ...
. This was specifically intended to represent Breton Catholicism. It was created by the sculptor
Yves Hernot
Yves Hernot is the name of two sculptors, father and son, who ran the ''Ateliers Yves Hernot'' sculpture workshop in Lannion, Brittany, which specialised in creating Calvary (sculpture), Calvaries and tombs.
Hernot senior
Yves Hernot senior (182 ...
in 1900 as a gift to Lourdes from the main Breton dioceses:
Rennes
Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...
,
Vannes
Vannes (; br, Gwened) is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. It was founded over 2,000 years ago.
History Celtic Era
The name ''Vannes'' comes from the Veneti, a seafaring Celtic people who lived ...
,
Quimper
Quimper (, ; br, Kemper ; la, Civitas Aquilonia or ) is a commune and prefecture of the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France.
Administration
Quimper is the prefecture (capital) of the Finistère department.
Geography
The ...
and
Saint-Brieuc
Saint-Brieuc (, Breton: ''Sant-Brieg'' , Gallo: ''Saent-Berioec'') is a city in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France.
History
Saint-Brieuc is named after a Welsh monk Brioc, who Christianised the region in the 6th c ...
. The monument comprises a single central cross set within a raised square base at each corner of which a statue of one of the witnesses to the crucifixion is placed.
In northern France and Belgium, such wayside calvaries erected at the junction of routes and tracks "function both as
navigation
Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...
devices and
objects of veneration", Nicholas J. Saunders has observed
[Saunders, "Crucifix, Calvary, and Cross: Materiality and Spirituality in Great War Landscapes", ''World Archaeology'' 35.1, The Social Commemoration of Warfare (June, 2003:7–21), p. 9.] "Since medieval times they have
fixed the landscape, symbolically acquiring it for the Christian faith, in the same way that, previously,
Megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
ic monuments marked prehistoric landscapes according to presumed religious and ideological imperatives".
Gallery
Image:Calvary - Rosary Square - Lourdes 2014.JPG, The ''Breton Calvary'' at Lourdes
Lourdes (, also , ; oc, Lorda ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for the Château ...
designed by Yves Hernot
Yves Hernot is the name of two sculptors, father and son, who ran the ''Ateliers Yves Hernot'' sculpture workshop in Lannion, Brittany, which specialised in creating Calvary (sculpture), Calvaries and tombs.
Hernot senior
Yves Hernot senior (182 ...
.
Image:ND de Tronoën Calvaire 2B.jpg, 15th-century calvaire at Notre-Dame de Tronoën, Brittany.
Image:Bretagne Finistere StJeanTrolimon 11037.jpg, The calvaire at St Jean Trolimon, in Finistère
Finistère (, ; br, Penn-ar-Bed ) is a department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.
Image:Saint-Tugen_Calvaire_26061.jpg, Calvaire at Saint-Tugen Chapel, Primelin, Brittany (second half of the 16th century).
File:Hernot.JPG, ''Calvary of Protest'' in Tréguier
Tréguier (; br, Landreger) is a port town in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. It is the capital of the province of Trégor.
Geography
Tréguier is located 36 m. N.W. of Saint-Brieuc by road. The port is situat ...
File:Paul Gauguin 028.jpg, Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...
's painting ''The Green Christ
''The Green Christ'' (in French: ''Le Christ vert'') is an oil on canvas painting executed by Paul Gauguin in the Autumn of 1889 in Pont-Aven, Brittany. Together with '' The Yellow Christ'', it is considered to be one of the key-works of Symbolism ...
'', depictring the Calvary of Névez
Névez (; ) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.
''Nevez'' means "new" in Breton. The name is thought to have arisen when Trégunc was split in two, creating a new parish.
Population
Inhabitants of Né ...
File:Castro Barbudo, calvario.JPG, Calvary at Castro Barbudo, Galicia
File:Cruceiro das Trece Cruces, Catoira.jpg, ''Cruceiro'' at Catoira
Catoira is a municipality in Galicia, Spain, located in the province of Pontevedra. Catoira is famous for its ruins of the Torres do Oeste (Towers of the West).
Demography
Local festivals
The most important celebrations include:
*the Viking ...
, Galicia
File:Negreira.A Ponte Maceira.Galiza.jpg, A Ponte Maceira, Negreira
Negreira is a municipality in northwestern Spain in the province of A Coruña, located on the Tambre River, in the autonomous community of Galicia. It is found to the west of Santiago de Compostela. It has a population of 6,941 according to the S ...
, Galicia
File:Pastoriza, Arteixo -Casa Villariza 07.jpg, A Pastoriza, Arteixo
Arteixo () is a municipality in the Province of A Coruña, part of the autonomous community of Galicia in northwestern Spain. Its area is 93.76 km2 and its population is 31,005 (2013). Its population density is 317.43 people/km2.
It is an i ...
, Galicia
File:Vilanova de Arousa.Galicia.33.jpg, Vilanova de Arousa
Vilanova de Arousa is a municipality in Galicia, Spain in the province of Pontevedra
Pontevedra (, ) is a Spanish city in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. It is the capital of both the ''Comarca'' (County) and Province of Pontevedra, ...
, Galicia
File:Guitiriz, S. Pedro de Buriz, Calvario da Graña.JPG, ''Cruceiro'' at Guitiriz
Guitiriz () is a City Council known for its destination spa, spa of mineral water in the Terra Chá Region, Lugo, Province of Lugo in North-western Spain.
Parishes
''(also known as: "Parroquias")''
# Becín
# Buriz
# Labrada
# Lagostelle
# ...
, Galicia
File:Cruceiro e ábsida de S. Xoán de Portomarín.JPG, ''Cruceiro'' at Portomarín
Portomarín is a municipality in the Spanish province of Lugo. It has a population of 2008 (Spanish 2001 Census) and an area of 115 km². It is located on the pilgrimage route known as the French Way of the Camino de Santiago.
The town o ...
, Galicia
File:Cruzeiro Milenar.JPG, ''Cruzeiro'' at Argoncilhe
Argoncilhe () is a Portuguese civil parish in the municipality (''concelho'') of Santa Maria da Feira. The population in 2011 was 8,420, in an area of 8.21 km2. It is located near the city of Porto.
History
The origins of Argoncilhe date back ...
, Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
File:Jesus Convent 5.JPG, ''Cruzeiro'' at Setúbal
Setúbal (, , ; cel-x-proto, Caetobrix) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies within the Lisbon metropolitan area.
In the ti ...
, Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
File:Cruz 02.JPG, ''Cruzeiro'' at Olival, Portugal
File:Calvaire rue Claie à Aix-sur-Cloie Aubange Belgique.JPG, One of several calvaries in Aix-sur-Cloie
Aix-sur-Cloie ( lb, Esch-op-der-Huurt;, wa, Yache-so-Cloye) is a village of Wallonia in the municipality of Aubange, district of Halanzy, located in the Luxembourg (Belgium), province of Luxembourg, Belgium.
A bronze bracelet from the fourth cent ...
, Belgium
File:Cruceiros de Galicia.gif, Several calvaries in Galicia
See also
*
High cross
A high cross or standing cross ( ga, cros ard / ardchros, gd, crois àrd / àrd-chrois, cy, croes uchel / croes eglwysig) is a free-standing Christian cross made of stone and often richly decorated. There was a unique Early Medieval traditi ...
, Irish and British sculptures
*
Russian Calvary cross
*
Memorial cross
A memorial cross (sometimes called an intending cross) is a cross-shaped memorial to commemorate a special event or an incident, typically where one or more people died. It may also be a simple form of headstone to commemorate the dead.
File
I ...
References
{{Christian crosses
Breton art
Christian architecture
Cross symbols
*
Galician culture