Middle Ages, Iconography, Ruler, Bohemian Lands, 11th - 13th centuries

Navzdory relativne skromnemu poctu figuralnich zobrazeni v umeni ceskych zemi 11.-13. stoleti, objevuje se mezi nimi pozoruhodne mnozstvi pamatek panovnicke ikonografie.. I kdyz tato zobrazeni byla vytvorena cizimi umelci, vyjadruji prislusne ideove koncepce tzv. "politicke teologie" formulovane zrejme domacimi objednavateli. Je to predevsim zobrazeni sv. Vaclava, ktere se objevuje pravidelne ve vsech vyvojovych fazich zmineneho obdobi, predesim ve funkci "vecneho vladare ceskych zemi". Mezi ikonograficky nejpozoruhodnejsi zobrazeni, ktere nemaji analogie ani ve zahranicnich pamatkach, patri kratky cyklus 4 starozakonnich scen na pocatku korunovacniho evangelistare Vysehradskeho, kde je oslavovana role prvniho ceskeho krale Vratislava I. Jinou zvlastnosti je zobrazeni skupiny ctyr "Boemenses" v ramci velke kompozice Mesta boziho na pocatku kopie De Civitate Dei, ktera - v rozporu s ideovou koncepci zmineneho autora - zduranuje roli "Cechu" jako vyvoleneho naroda.

Despite the modest number of the figural images in Bohemian art from the period between the 11th and the 13th centuries, there is surprisingly significant number of images with rulers? iconography. They express appropriate ideological concepts of so called ?political theology? formulated likely by the domestic commissioners. It is mainly image of St. Wenceslaus regularly appearing in images of the above stated period mainly as the ?eternal ruler of Bohemia?. From the iconographical point of view the most interesting image is the short cycle of four Old Testament scenes at the beginning of the Vyšehrad codex celebrating with the help of period typological exegesis the role of the first Bohemian king Vratislav I. Another unusual image depicts group of four ?Boemenses? as a part of a great composition of the God?s City at the beginning of the text of De Civitate Dei. The composition doesn?t follow the original Augustine?s conception by putting emphasis on the role of ?Czechs? as the choosen nation.