''White Angel'' ( sr, Бели анђео / ''Beli anđeo'') is a detail of one of the best known

frescoes Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster ...

in Serbian culture in the

Mileševa monastery The Mileševa Monastery ( sr-cyr, Манастир Милешева, Manastir Mileševa, or ) is a Serbian Orthodox monastery located near Prijepolje, in southwest Serbia. It was founded by King Stefan Vladislav I, in the years between 1234 and ...

, ''Mironosice na Hristovom grobu'' (the Myrrhbearers at Christ's tomb), dated c. 1235 in

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

during the reign of King

Stephen Vladislav I of Serbia Stefan Vladislav ( sr-cyr, Стефан Владислав, ; – after 1264) was the King of Serbia from 1234 to 1243. He was the middle son of Stefan the First-Crowned of the Nemanjić dynasty, who ruled Serbia from 1196 to 1228. Radoslav ...

. Considered one of the most beautiful works of Serbian and European art from the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended ...

, this fresco is considered to be one of the great achievements in European painting. It depicts the arrival of the myrrhbearers at the

tomb of Christ The tomb of Jesus refers to any place where it is believed that Jesus was entombed or interred. Church of the Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. It contains, a ...

on Sunday morning, after the events of the

Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagi ...

. Sitting on the stone is the

Angel of the Lord The (or an) angel of the ( he, מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה '' mal’āḵ YHWH'' "messenger of Yahweh") is an entity appearing repeatedly in the Tanakh (Old Testament) on behalf of the God of Israel. The guessed term ''YHWH'', which occurs ...

dressed in a white

chiton Chitons () are marine molluscs of varying size in the class Polyplacophora (), formerly known as Amphineura. About 940 extant and 430 fossil species are recognized. They are also sometimes known as gumboots or sea cradles or coat-of-mail she ...

, whose arm shows the place of Christ's resurrection, and his empty tomb.

Location and history

The fresco is located in the

Mileševa Monastery The Mileševa Monastery ( sr-cyr, Манастир Милешева, Manastir Mileševa, or ) is a Serbian Orthodox monastery located near Prijepolje, in southwest Serbia. It was founded by King Stefan Vladislav I, in the years between 1234 and ...

near

Prijepolje Prijepolje ( sr-cyr, Пријепоље, ) is a town and municipality located in the Zlatibor District of southwestern Serbia. As of 2011 census, the town has 13,330 inhabitants, while the municipality has 37,059 inhabitants. Etymology One possibl ...

, on the southern wall of the church and the identity of its author is unknown. In the 16th century, the ''White Angel'' was over-painted with another fresco, and so was hidden until the 20th century when the fresco was restored.

Trivia

A picture of the ''White Angel'' of Mileševa was sent as a message in the first satellite broadcast signal from

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

after the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...

, as a

symbol A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...

peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

and

civilization A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system). ...

. Later, the same signal, containing the White Angel, was transmitted to space in an attempt to communicate with

extraterrestrial life Extraterrestrial life, colloquially referred to as alien life, is life that may occur outside Earth and which did not originate on Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been conclusively detected, although efforts are underway. Such life might ...

forms. However, this has been disputed, as no official NASA or other space agency sources have been found to confirm this claim.

References

External links

* {{13C-painting-stub 1230s paintings 1230s works Angels in art Fresco paintings Works of unknown authorship Paintings in Serbia

Location and history

Trivia

See also

References

External links