1. Hungarian Late Gothic Painting and Sculpture (15-16th c.)

The veneration of the holy grave of Christ was established in Europe after the 11th century by knights returning from the Crusades in the Holy Land. The wooden or stone tombs of Christ were used in the liturgy of the Holy Week. This Lord’s Coffin, made for the Benedictine Abbey of Garamszentbenedek (now Hronský Beňadik, Slovakia) is the product of a workshop that worked for the mining towns nearby. The carvers used Martin Schongauer’s prints for models but they were also influenced by Veit Stoss of Nuremberg, who worked in Cracow around 1480. The upper part is a baldachin resembling an aisleless Gothic chapel; it symbolizes the Heavenly Jerusalem. The lower part is the symbolic sarcophagus of Christ. The Lord’s Coffin was used for the Good Friday liturgy: in remembrance of Christ’s death, a statue with movable arms – still preserved in the Abbey – was removed from a cross and placed inside the Coffin under the baldachin. The statue, which shows the dead Christ, remained in the Coffin until the feast of the glorious resurrection. The Easter liturgy was then apparently celebrated with another statue portraying the resurrected Christ, standing in the small niche on the front side. Under this niche, probably a monstrance was placed on the large corbel. The empty Coffin was pulled around the church by hand in the procession. After the days of mourning, it became a symbol of redemption.