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Proskynetarion: One Term for Two Kinds of Jerusalemite Pilgrimage Souvenirs Rehav (Buni) RUBIN

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Proskynetarion: One Term for Two Kinds of Jerusalemite Pilgrimage Souvenirs Rehav (Buni) RUBIN ECA 10 (2014-2016), p. 97-111; doi: 10.2143 / ECA.10.0.3223626 Proskynetarion: One Term for Two Kinds of Jerusalemite Pilgrimage Souvenirs Rehav (Buni) RUBIN From way back, Jerusalem and Palestine, being the the act of pilgrimage or an object that is associated Holy City and the Holy Land, attracted Christian with it. The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium gives pilgrims from many countries and nationalities, three different meanings of the latter term: the first and hence were the source of various kinds of reli- is ‘place of worship’, the second is ‘travel guide to gious memorabilia bought by the pilgrims and Sinai or Jerusalem’, and the third is ‘the monumen- taken back home. The production of pilgrimage tal icon of Christ, the Virgin, or patron saint of a mementos is known as early as the Byzantine church’10. However, in the context of pilgrimage to period, when flasks or ampullae filled with holy the Holy Land in the seventeenth-nineteenth cen- Jordan water were produced and sold in Jerusalem1. turies the term is used to define the aforementioned It developed further with the export of sacred relics groups of objects that were related mainly, but not in early medieval times2, and with objects made of exclusively, to Greek Orthodox and Slavic pilgrim- palm trees during the crusader era. Later, decorated age. Those objects were apparently produced in models of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre were Jerusalem and its environs and bought and taken made of wood inlaid with mother of pearl3. Along home by pilgrims as sacred souvenirs, and hence with them, other religious memorabilia were pro- acquired their name: proskynetarion. The first kind duced in the same technique4. Pilgrims even had of proskynetaria concerns icons usually painted on their bodies tattooed as a testimony of their pil- canvas. The second is a group of illuminated man- grimage5. The variety of religious memorabilia uscripts bound as booklets that described the holy available in the markets of Jerusalem was, and still places in Jerusalem and the Holy Land through text is, extensive and includes many different items6. and images. Both will be introduced in this paper Annabel Jane Wharton, in her book on the com- and the characteristics of each of these two groups mercialization of Jerusalem, suggested looking at will be explored. Finally, the elements that tie them these phenomena from the economic perspective7. together will be discussed briefly. Broadly speaking, the scholarly literature on pil- grimage to the Holy Land pays more attention to PROSKYNETARION ICONS pilgrims from the West than to the members of the Eastern Churches8. Therefore, there is only limited The first type of objects defined as proskynetarion is discussion on the sacred mementos that were pro- a sizeable group of large-size icons which were duced for and bought by pilgrims from the Middle painted on canvas, but occasionally also on wood East and Eastern Europe. Actually members of the (Pls 1-3). They were made in Jerusalem and in its Eastern churches, in particular the Greek Orthodox Church, always formed a substantial part of the pil- grims arriving in the Holy Land, and obviously had 1 Barag/Wilkinson 1974. their share in the market of sacred memorabilia9. 2 Hen 1999. 3 Among those objects there were two different types Biddle 1999; Piccirillo 1992; idem 2007; Rubin 2006. 4 Norris 2013. that are both called proskynetarion. 5 Lewy 2000. The Greek term proskynesis originally meant 6 Coccopalmerio 2001. adoration or worship of the gods, and later, in the 7 Wharton 2006. 8 Christian context, also veneration of holy places, or Ben Arieh 1970; Tobler 1867; Röhricht 1890; Klatzker 1991; Mendelson 2000; Noonan 2007; Vogel 1993; Wright 1968. pilgrimage. The derivative proskynethes stands for a 9 Immerzeel 2014. pilgrim, and proskynetarion (pl. proskynetaria) for 10 ODB III, 1739. 97 Pl. 1. Proskynetarion icon; Byzantine and Christian Museum, Athens (photograph: Byzantine and Christian Museum) vicinity, and were then purchased by pilgrims as years, and was the focus of several international venerated souvenirs. To facilitate transport, the symposia, which reflects the scholarly recognition paintings were rolled or folded to fit in their lug- of these objects as a specific and well defined gage. Hence these icons were distributed to many genre11. The outcome of the enquiries was pub- places in the Near East, the Balkan and Eastern lished in a substantial number of articles dedicated Europe, and even Western Europe. to individual specimens and the general character- The group of painted proskynetaria has received istics of the genre12. Several proskynetaria were dis- abundant scholarly attention during the last fifteen played in exhibitions and described in catalogues13. A data-base locating and describing over 130 spec- imens was produced as part of a comprehensive 11 Proceedings I, 2004; Proceedings II, 2005. research project14. However, it seems that many 12 Immerzeel 1999; idem 2005; Ivanić 2006; Nagy 2006; eadem 2014. more are still waiting to be discovered in churches 13 Catalogue Amsterdam 2005, 59-62; Catalogue Sofia 2002; and collections; some appear from time to time in Catalogue Thessaloniki 2010, 324-325; Ćurćić/Hadjit- art auctions15. ryphonos 2010. Most of the known icons were 14 Immerzeel/Deluga/Łaptaś, 2005, 25-34. I am indebted to proskynetarion Dr Mat Immerzeel for sharing his broad and updated data- painted by Greek-Orthodox monk-artists and base with me. bear captions in Greek, but there are some excep- 15 See for example, Christie’s auction catalogue, dated 9 June, tions, for example the Armenian piece in the 2008, item no. 26; Catalogue of Islamic and Indian Works Cathedral of St James in the Armenian quarter16. of Art, Bonham’s Auction, April 23, 2013, London. 16 Meinardus 1983; idem 2005. Usually these icons are rectangular and fairly large. 17 Nagy 2006, for example, described an icon measuring Their width varies between one meter and two, 89.2 × 54.5 cm. although there are smaller ones17. Although a 18 Catalogue Thessaloniki 2010, 324-325; Ćurćić/Hadjit- number of proskynetaria display a high artistic ryphonos 2010; and an icon from 1805 from a private 18 collection (141 × 196 cm): http://www.liveauctioneers. quality and an abundance of details , others are com/item/9713768 (retrieved 27.11.14). fairly simple and can therefore be classified as the 98 work of unskilled artists19. Mat Immerzeel identi- name added. This suggests that many icons of this fied the icon in Saumur, France, that was painted kind were prepared by artists throughout the whole in 1704 as the earliest known specimen in this year and offered for sale around Easter time24. Fur- group (Pl. 2), and therefore dated the whole pro- thermore, the title ‘Haji’ (χαζι) is occasionally duction to the eighteenth and nineteenth centu- added to the name of the purchaser. This title is the ries20. However, I think that a proskynetarion in Turkish form of the Arabic term Hajj, given to a the Byzantine Museum of Zakynthos, dated on Muslim pilgrim who accomplished the pilgrimage the basis of its stylistic features to the first half of to Mecca. The application of this Turkish-Arabic the seventeenth century, should be regarded as a term, together with its Christian Greek equivalent forerunner of this genre21. (proskynetes) to Christian pilgrims, developed dur- The common imagery of these icons comprises ing the Ottoman period, and testifies to the Chris- three main fields. The left and right fields are ded- tian adoption of Muslim terms and customs. icated to Mary and Christ, respectively, and consist Indeed, χαζι still appears as a common prefix to of a central image surrounded by medallions or many family names in Greece and Eastern Europe25. rectangular frames representing scenes from their A specific subgroup of these proskynetarion lives22. In the centre of the composition, the icons, probably the early ones, represents the topo- Church of the Holy Sepulchre (the Anastasis or graphic setting of the holy places, and should Resurrection in the Orthodox tradition) is depicted accordingly be defined as iconic maps of the Holy in the form of an architectonic elevation of the Land (Pl. 2). Obviously these specimens do not southern façade, with the belfry in the middle and have the aforementioned threefold layout, and as a the two domes (the rotunda and the catholicon) on consequence do not depict the lives of Mary and its sides. The interior of the church includes various Christ, but the central position of the Church of scenes such as the Crucifixion and the Resurrection the Holy Sepulchre remains unchanged. This image of Christ, Sts Helen and Constantine, and the is surrounded by the churches and monasteries Greek Orthodox patriarch carrying the candles of within the walls of Jerusalem. Outside the walls the the Holy Fire (Pls 1-3; see below). holy places near Jerusalem, such as Mount Zion, The city of Jerusalem and the holy places in its Gethsemane, the Mount of Olives, and the Pool of vicinity are depicted as a background around the Siloam, are depicted. Farther to the right side – image of the Holy Sepulchre. The city walls are south of Jerusalem – one finds Bethlehem, the holy seen in partial or whole view. Some icons comprise places in its vicinity, and the Judaean desert mon- buildings within the city, such as the Dome of the asteries; to the left, i.e. the North, Mount Tabor Rock and the Greek Orthodox monasteries and with the Transfiguration and Nazareth; in the churches of Jerusalem. Other sacred sites and tradi- upper part, i.e. the East, the Sea of Galilee, Jordan tions related to the Holy Land, such as Jonah and River with the Baptism, and the Dead Sea; and on the Whale near Jaffa and Baruch, Jeremiah’s disci- the lower part, i.e.
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