A calvary, also called calvary hill, Sacred Mount, or Sacred Mountain, is a type of Christian sacred place, built on the slopes of a hill, composed by a set of chapels, usually laid out in the form of a pilgrims' way. It is intended to represent the passion of Jesus Christ and takes its name after Calvary, the hill in Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified.
These function as greatly expanded versions of the Stations of the Cross that are usual in Catholic churches, allowing the devout to follow the progress of the stages of the Passion of Christ along the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem. Each chapel contains a large image of the scene from the Passion it commemorates, sometimes in sculpture, that may be up to life-size. This kind of shrine was especially popular in the Baroque period when the Holy Land was under Ottoman Turkish rule and it was dangerous and highly difficult to make a pilgrimage to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
Calvaries were especially popular with the Franciscan and Jesuit orders, and are most common in Italy, the Catholic regions of Germany, and Habsburg-ruled Central Europe. They were usually placed in parks near a church or a monastery, typically on a hill which the visitor gradually ascends. Italian ones are usually called a sacro monte ("holy mountain" or "hill"); there are a group of nine Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy that are especially notable; their dates of foundation vary between 1486 and 1712. Devotions would be most popular in Passion Week, before Easter, when large processions around the stations would be held, and mystery plays might also be acted. If a calvary was established in an inhabited place, it might result in a location of a new village or town. Several villages and towns are named after such a complex.[ citation needed ]
The Mount of Calvary was the site outside the gates of Jerusalem where the crucifixion of Christ took place. The scene was replicated around the world in numerous "calvary hills" after the Counter-Reformation and they are used by Roman Catholics in particular as part of their worship and veneration of God.
The term is derived from St Jerome's Ecclesiastical Latin translation in the Vulgate of the Aramaic name for original hill, Golgotha , where it is termed calvariae locus "the place of the skull". [1] [2] Martin Luther translated Golgatha as "skull place" (Scheddelstet). This translation is debated; at the very least it is not clear whether it referred to the shape of the hill, its use as a place of execution or burial or refers to something else. [3]
"Calvary hill" today refers to a roughly life-size depiction of the scenes of the Passion of Christ, with sculptures of additional figures. These scenes are set up on the slopes of a hill. The traditional fourteen stations of the cross are usually laid out on the way up to the top of the pilgrimage hill and there is often a small, remote church or chapel located between a few dozen to several hundred metres away.
Calvary hills must not be confused with calvaries, which are a specific type of wayside monumental crucifix, a tradition mostly found in Brittany especially in the Finistère, built in parish closes between 1450 and the 17th century.
Mount St Bernard Abbey, Leicestershire.
Kalwaria Zebrzydowska is a town in southern Poland with 4,429 inhabitants. As of 1999, it is situated in Lesser Poland or Małopolska. Previously, the town was administered within the Voivodeship of Bielsko-Biała (1975–1998).
Varallo Sesia, pronunciation (Vhuh-rahl-loh) commonly known as Varallo, is a comune and town in the province of Vercelli in the Piedmont region of Italy. It is situated in Valsesia, at 450 metres (1,480 ft) above sea level and some 66 kilometres (41 mi) north-northeast of Vercelli and 55 kilometres (34 mi) northwest of Novara.
The Sacri Montiof Piedmont and Lombardy are a series of nine calvaries or groups of chapels and other architectural features created in northern Italy during the late sixteenth century and the seventeenth century. They are dedicated to various aspects of the Christian faith and are considered of great beauty by virtue of the skill with which they have been integrated into the surrounding natural landscape of hills, forests and lakes. They also house important artistic materials in the form of wall paintings and statuary. In 2003, they were named as a World Heritage Site.
Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli was an Italian painter and draughtsman who was active in Milan. He is mainly known for his altarpieces, but his outstanding achievements are large decorative frescoes for the Sacro Monte di Varese and the Sacro Monte di Varallo.
Dionigi or Dionisio Bussola (1615–1687) was an Italian sculptor active mainly in Milan and its environs during the Baroque era.
Giuseppe Rusnati was a Lombard sculptor of the Rococo period. Known for having trained with Ercole Ferrata and subsequently from 1673 to c. 1686 training a young Camillo Rusconi, prior to the latter's relocation himself to Ferrata's studio in Rome. Born near Como; he died in 1713. He worked for many years for the Duomo of Milan, where he worked along with Giuseppe Buono (1670–1709/21) and Carlo Simonetta.
The Sacred Mountain of Varallo is a Sacro Monte overlooking the town of Varallo Sesia in the province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. It is the oldest Sacro Monte, founded in 1491 by Franciscan friar Bernardino Caimi. It is built on a natural terrace on the rocky slopes of Monte Tre Croci, on the left bank of the Sesia river where it leaves Val Mastallone. It is 600 m above sea level, 150 m above the historic centre of Varallo.
The Sacro Monte di Orta is a Roman Catholic devotional complex in the comune of Orta San Giulio on the summit of a hill known as San Nicolao, which faces the western shore of Lake Orta. It is one of the Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy, included in UNESCO World Heritage list.
The Sacred Mountain of Ghiffa is a Roman Catholic devotional complex in the comune of Ghiffa, Piedmont, northern Italy, overlooking the Lake Maggiore. It is one of the nine Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy, included in UNESCO World Heritage list.
The Sacro Monte di Oropa is a Roman Catholic devotional complex in the province of Biella, Piedmont, northern Italy. It is one of the nine Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy and is on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Žemaičių Kalvarija is a town in Plungė district municipality, Lithuania. It is known as a major site for Catholic pilgrimage.
Kalwaria Zebrzydowska park is a Mannerist architectural and park landscape complex and pilgrimage park, built in the 17th century as the Counter Reformation in the late 16th century led to prosperity in the creation of calvaries in Catholic Europe.
The Sacro Monte di Varese is one of the nine sacri monti in the Italian regions of Lombardy and Piedmont which were inscribed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 2003. It has an altitude of 807 metres above sea level.
The Sacred Mount Calvary of Domodossola is a Roman Catholic sanctuary on the Mattarella Hill, overlooking Domodossola. It is one of the nine Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy, included in the UNESCO World Heritage list.
A pilgrimage church is a church to which pilgrimages are regularly made, or a church along a pilgrimage route, like the Way of St. James, that is visited by pilgrims.
The Path of Saint-Charles is an historical, artistic and devotional route which follows the travels of saint Charles Borromeo from Arona, his native town, and Viverone, where the path joins the Via Francigena.
The Sacro Monte del Santuario di San Giovanni Battista d'Andorno is the Sacro Monte built around a sanctuary in the Cervo Valley above the village of Campiglia Cervo, at an altitude of 1020 meters. It is the only sanctuary devoted to Saint John in Italy and probably in Europe.
The Sacro Monte di Arona, devoted to Charles Borromeo, is part of the Sacri Monti built in the 16th and 17th centuries. It is located in the territory of the town of Arona, province of Novara, region of Piedmont, Italy.
The Kalvarienberg is a 523-metre-high (1,716 ft) calvary hill in the nature reserve of Lampertstal near Alendorf, a village in the municipality of Blankenheim in the county of Euskirchen in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
San Vivaldo Monastery is a Roman Catholic convent, church, and sanctuary complex located outside of the town of Montaione, region of Tuscany, Italy. The eighteen distinct chapels on this hill, putatively corresponding to sites of the Holy Land, and containing vivid polychrome statuary groupings recalling events of the New Testament, specially the Passion of Jesus, are one of the few examples of the Sacri Monti complexes in Tuscany. Sacri Monti are more characteristic expressions of veneration in the Piedmont and Lombardy. The convent still houses the franciscan order.
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