It takes some attention to notice them, and perhaps not everyone knows their story, but there is something different in Gethsemane in the past few weeks.
The facade of the Basilica of the Agony is complete again, as its architect Antonio Barluzzi had imagined it. In the upper part, the large mosaic shows Christ in prayer. On His left are simple people – including a mother with a child in her arms who appears to be dead, and on His right there are the wise and powerful of the earth. All of them are crying from their poverty, their condition, and their suffering, turning to the Son of God, who in turn, looks towards the Father and bridges our human condition with the Divine Hope. Further up, on the tip of the facade, there looms a cross with two deer at either side. According to one of the most common iconography of the cross, water flows from the two arms. The position of the deer shows them apparently drinking, and evokes Psalm 42 (“As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God”).
The deer are what’s new in Gethsemane. Stolen twice, they have recently returned to their rightful place after an absence of seven years, thanks to a Spanish benefactress who financed the renovation of the facade. The deer were stolen a first time on February 9, 2000, and found shortly afterward in Ramallah by the Palestinian police. They were returned to their place on September 19 of the same year. On May 19, 2004, they were stolen a second time and never found again.
The Custody of the Holy Land gives special thanks to the generosity of the benefactress who, after seven years, has restored the opportunity to admire the Holy Place in its entirety once again.
Article and photos by Marco Gavasso
The facade of the Basilica of the Agony is complete again, as its architect Antonio Barluzzi had imagined it. In the upper part, the large mosaic shows Christ in prayer. On His left are simple people – including a mother with a child in her arms who appears to be dead, and on His right there are the wise and powerful of the earth. All of them are crying from their poverty, their condition, and their suffering, turning to the Son of God, who in turn, looks towards the Father and bridges our human condition with the Divine Hope. Further up, on the tip of the facade, there looms a cross with two deer at either side. According to one of the most common iconography of the cross, water flows from the two arms. The position of the deer shows them apparently drinking, and evokes Psalm 42 (“As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God”).
The deer are what’s new in Gethsemane. Stolen twice, they have recently returned to their rightful place after an absence of seven years, thanks to a Spanish benefactress who financed the renovation of the facade. The deer were stolen a first time on February 9, 2000, and found shortly afterward in Ramallah by the Palestinian police. They were returned to their place on September 19 of the same year. On May 19, 2004, they were stolen a second time and never found again.
The Custody of the Holy Land gives special thanks to the generosity of the benefactress who, after seven years, has restored the opportunity to admire the Holy Place in its entirety once again.
Article and photos by Marco Gavasso