You Should Really Reconsider Entering!

For the often illiterate population, symbols and sculptures were the only way institutions were able to transfer messages.  The use of didactic sculpture has been used for ever but the most popular was during the Greek and Roman periods.  The reliefs on buildings like the Parthenon functioned as narratives for the people.  Used at practically every corner in Rome, the technique faded for a while until Romanesque architects renewed it.  In the 11th and 12th centuries, there was flurry of new narrative stone reliefs and sculptures.  The art work was transferred from the doors themselves to the surrounding areas of the door.

In the picture on the left you can see the standard design of a Romanesque church portal.  The most important part is the tympanum, which is the large lunette above the doorway that would house the main work.  The wedge shaped blocks that make up the archivolts around the tympanum are called voussoirs.  The lintel, which often holds images of worshipers, is the horizontal beam above the doorway.  Lastly, the columns holding the whole thing up have two different names.  The middle column is called trumeau and the side columns are jambs.

The typical tympanum depicts Jesus in the middle in a mandorla.  He is surrounded by scenes or references to the New or Old Testament.  Many are scary and are intended to scare the common worshiper into considering their actions.  One of them depicts Jesus in the middle with the good side and heaven to his right and the evil side and hell to his left.  We decided to model our tympanum in class after one similar to the good vs. bad one.  We chose to do a Star Wars theme, and chose Darth Vader as our 'Jesus'. On Darth Vader's right there is Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and finally Yoda.  On the Vader's left is Darth Maul and Jabba the Hut.  The figures in the lintel are matched with their particular side.  The good figures are Rebel fighter pilots and the evil figures are Federation battle droids.  Along the archivolt the images are matched to their respective sides as well.  On the good side they are Millenium Falcons and on the evil side they are Death Stars.  Obviously, we took some creative liberty making Vader the main guy.  This also opened my eyes to how bad of a painter I am and showed me that paining is not meant for detailed images without the right brush.