Arcadia Discussion Zone

Some people say, that the stations of the cross are made by a factory in Toulouse (Giscard) and they are hundredwise sold in several churches. So its impossible, that special hints are in it.
This is right, but Sauniers artist's painted the sulptures and reliefs and the background . Sometimes they create or change something in the half-relief. That means, that we must have a look at that parts of the crossway, which are made by the custumers, in this case Saunier and his artist.

I will give you an example and take the no. 1 which is the beginning of the message. All we found is, that the young man at the right side could be the rock de negre and on the lower side we can see an entrance. Thats it.

But if we want to have a look at the things what Saunier made, we must take the painted background. There is nothing to see but a rock on a hill. It could be Golgatha, because the justice points to it, and we hear : "Take him to the hill".

Jesus is a sculpture and the soldier is a relief. That means, that the head of Jesus could hide some further details of the background. So I found a pic, which is shooten from the very left side. This pic tell us, that there is a second hill behind Jesus's head. If we stand in front of the station #1 we cannot see the second hill, because it is behind or better "in" the head of Jesus. That means, he is thinking about a second "secret" hill, while the other people are thinking about Golgatha. But there is more place right from the hill, but we cant see it in these fotos.Pic #1 : left = front view. right is very left view. Pic#2 : left = very right view, right = Detail from left side.

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In the last summer, I asked a man who made a journey to RLC for a pic from the very right side of the station #1. And he did it. I was surprised to see, that there is a tower painted. Painted on a place, where nobody can see him ? Amazing !

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The message is :
While the others are thinking about Golgatha, Jesus is thinking about a hill and a tower. These fact's are not known until now. This is the "opening" message of Saunier and the key to the rest of the crossway stations. The crossway shows us two ways. One official way to the hill and a secret way to the tower.

Blanchefort?

Dav, it is the opening of the crossway not the end.

Are you saying that you are using the stations like an X marks the spot?

I mentioned Blanchefort only because it is a hill that, from the ruins, may have had a tower on it

The black servant is not unique. If you go to the fishing village Marsaxlokk on the island Malta and enter the church you'll find the same black servant on station no.1.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsaxlokk

http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/76808/iglesia-marxaslok.jpg

Thats a misunderstanding : "..all what the people thought what they have found is....."

I wrote, that the sculpturs and the half-reliefs are fabric work and we have to look at the background.
And there is a tower painted on a place behind the head of Jesus, where nobody can see it. I have not read about that tower until today. Why did the artist paint the tower in the background on that place. He could paint him more to the left side, but he did not.But if he do not want the people to see the tower, why did he paint him?

First of all, I say that all the people who mean that there is nothing inside the stations are wrong.

The second is, that Saunier hides two strings of informations in the crossway. One string in the forground leads us to a hill (maybe RLC) which is the wrong target.
And the other secret string leads us to the genuine hill with a tower on top.

The symbols hill and tower are a part of a lot of the stations. So have a look at the stations. I gave you an example with station #1.

It's very simple : First you have to find that elements in the stations, which are not fabric made. Then you can begin to decode it.

regards Hans

ok so why not Blanchefort?

Fair enough and quite interesting, indeed!

The only point to check carefully: you would have to use very old photos of the stations to check what was actually painted by "Sauniere" and what was not there at his time. Perhaps Brunelin can help with at least pics from the 60ties. "Careful renovation" is sadly only a topic since a couple of years in RLC.

OR

You play the card of Lincoln by saying it is not important whether these painted details are from the time of Sauniere or after, important is only that they exist and that they lead to a certain place.

that sounds more like the Hammott card

that sounds more like majority of anyone who has been introduced to this story card

That is interesting Hans
thank you
I never knew there was a Tower back there ....Magdala Tour perhaps

But speaking of the station of the cross

I have always been fascinated at the left hand of the guy in green
It looks like the head of a snake
What is shown is that something is hidden the Brazen Serpent
Moses then erects a pole with a brazen serpent on it, and as we see from Number 21:9 "Any who are bitten may look upon it and not die".

Goethe's
Goethe called "The Green Snake" we learn of a king who enters a mysterious temple where he through comparisons and choices is taught how to gap the bridge between the human mistakes and the ideal state.



In all four gospel accounts, Pilate avoids responsibility for the death of Jesus. In the Gospel of Matthew, Pilate washes his hands to show that he was not responsible for the execution of Jesus and reluctantly sends him to his death.[7] The Gospel of Mark, depicting Jesus as innocent of plotting against the Roman Empire, portrays Pilate as reluctant to execute Jesus.[7] In the Gospel of Luke, Pilate not only agrees that Jesus did not conspire against Rome, but Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Galilee, also finds nothing treasonable in Jesus' actions.[7] We find in the Gospel of John, Pilate states “I find no guilt in him [Jesus]” and he asks the Jews if Jesus should be released from custody.


The Pilate Stone is the name given to a block (82 cm x 65 cm) of limestone with a carved inscription attributed to Pontius Pilate, a prefect of the Roman-controlled province of Judaea from 26–36. The stone is significant because it is the only universally accepted archaeological find with an inscription mentioning the name "Pontius Pilatus" to date

Caesarea Maritima was named in honor of Augustus Caesar.[1] The city was described in detail by the 1st century Roman Jewish historian Josephus.[3] The city became the seat of the Roman prefect soon after its foundation. Caesarea was the "administrative capital" beginning in 6 CE.[4] This city is the location of the 1961 discovery of the Pilate Stone, the only archaeological item that mentions the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate, by whose order Jesus was crucified

Through Origen and especially the scholarly presbyter Pamphilus of Caesarea, an avid collector of books of Scripture, the theological school of Caesarea won a reputation for having the most extensive ecclesiastical library of the time, containing more than 30,000 manuscripts: Gregory Nazianzus, Basil the Great, Jerome and others came to study there.

The walls remained, but within them the population dwindled and agriculture crept in among the ruins. When Baldwin I took the city in 1101/2, during the First Crusade, it was still very rich, nevertheless. A legend grew up that in this city was discovered the Holy Grail around which so much lore accrued in the next two centuries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontius_Pilate

The earliest (colour) photos of the chemin de la croix I am aware of date from 1969. Published by Paul Rouelle. Also infrared ones. He also mentions that several "retouches" have been done since then....some of the stations were in a very bad shape.

Thank you for your interest in this topic, fmh999

Yes I know, that some of the stations are damaged by stupid painterhand. I wrote about this in the topic "stations of the cross damaged".

But all of the "retouches" are very naiv and bad work. In case of station 1 is it not. I think it is genuine. Never the less will no "retoucheur" paint a tower behind the head of Jesus, where nobody can see it. At such a place is no "retouche" used. There will be no sence in it. On the other hand is the tower painted in a style, which is like the origin. I think, that the station #1 must be disassembled while painting the tower. There is not place enough to paint.

I think that the background of #1 is origin.
Are you able to post the pic of #1 from 1969, also the infrared one ?

regards Hans

Yes why not ?

But if you decode the crossway, you will come to a different result than Blanchefort.

After I found the hidden background elements in station #1, I remember station #10, which has nearly the same background.

The elements "hill" and "tower" are painted in the same constellation.

In #1, I used fotoshop, to place the tower and the hill "in" the head of Jesus.

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The background paintings originally were made by Giscard. So a lot of question marks remain such as who painted what at what time, who ordered what at what time, etc. etc.

The good thing is that apparently you could "detect" out of what you see today a specific location. So whether these details are genuine and important can easily be verified on spot. Thumps up or down.

No I cannot post the pics of Paul Rouelle here, copyright issues, you have to contact him directly. He published these pics in a journal (named "top secret") you can buy down in RLC in the bookshop.

Interesting Hans.

Thanks for dragging the intellect level of this forum out of the gutter back to where it used to be.

I am shure, that the paintings are not made by Giscard from Toulouse. Normaly the custumers by then ready to "hang on". This is visible in the catalouge of Giscard. The customer has to choice the desighn between "roman" and "gothic".

The background paintings in RLC are made by a better artist, than Giscard has in his factory.
..

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A votre service , Mr. Drake

Better check a second time. There were different "quality levels" one could order from the maison for the same basic sujet.

BUT: as already stated, a lot of question marks remain - the only way to verifiy/falsify is to go on spot.

Yes fmh, I agree.

Thanks. It is nice to see Sauniere (remember him?) making a comeback

Sauniere,Sauniere.... ah, Berenger Sauniere, the priest of RlC. I know him. Read about it a long time ago. Didn't he found a treasure ?

Magdala Tour is a tower
Do you think he is talking about it?

and for the serpent like hand on the fellow in green




the hand of Pilate appears like a horned dragon/serpent looking at Christ

Antonio Ciseri
He went to Florence in 1833 to study drawing with Ernesto Bonaiuti, and from 1834 he was a pupil of Niccola and Pietro Benvenuti at the Accademia di Belle Arti;

he drew this which is similar to the RLC station



the title is kinda weird
"The transport of Christ to the sepulcher"

It also is night
In the station of the rock tomb ...the rock tomb is different ...the painters made more detail for what reason?