The Holy Mount Athos

譯/愛藝

Mount Athos was the centre of the Greek Orthodox Church and from the 10th to the 15th century it also held great significance for southern Slavs.Mucha held the Orthodox Church in great esteem, believing it to have had a unifying influence on the Slav people.When he visited the monastery in 1924 he was moved by its timeless spirituality.

[2]Filled with icons and symbols,Mucha’s composition(egg tempera on canvas, 405cm × 480cm, 1926)depicts a procession of Russian pilgrims proceeding in a semi-circle towards four high priests at the rear of the sanctuary.Each of the priests holds a relic out for the pilgrims to embrace.A beam of sunshine filters through the apse from the left, lighting up the figures of angels,four of which hold models of Slavic monasteries in the Mount Athos area.The fi gure of the Virgin painted on the ceiling has an earthly quality that sets her apart from the angels.In the foreground, a young boy props up a blind old man.

[3]With theSlav EpicMucha wished to unite all the Slavs through their common history and their mutual reverence for peace and learning and eventually to inspire them to work for humanity using their experience and virtue.In 1928, Mucha officially presented the complete series of theSlav Epic to the City of Prague as a gift to the nation,coinciding with the 10th Anniversary of its independence.■

阿陀斯山在希臘東正教中占據著中心地位，10到15世紀，它對南部斯拉夫人也有著重要意義。穆夏對東正教非常尊崇，認為它幫助凝聚了斯拉夫民族廣大民眾的人心。1 924年參觀阿陀斯山修道院時，他為其永恒的精神所感動。

[2]穆夏此畫（布面蛋彩畫，405厘米×480厘米，1926）描繪了一隊俄羅斯朝圣者，他們的隊伍呈半圓形，向著圣殿后方的四位主教行進，畫中滿是圣像和宗教圖標。每位主教都手持一件圣物讓朝圣者親觸。左側，一束陽光穿過半圓壁龕，照亮了眾天使的雕像，其中四對兩兩捧著阿陀斯山地區四座斯拉夫修道院的模型。天花板上的圣母畫像帶有一絲世俗煙火氣，令她與眾天使迥然不同。前景中，一個男孩撐扶著一位失明老伯。

[3]在組畫《斯拉夫史詩》中，穆夏展示了斯拉夫人共同的歷史及對和平與學習的同一份尊重，他希望借此團結起所有斯拉夫人，并最終激勵他們利用自己的經驗和美德造福人類。1928年，穆夏將整套組畫《斯拉夫史詩》作為贈送給國家的禮物正式呈交布拉格市，當年恰逢國家獨立10周年。□