Statue of Angel with Crown of Thorns on Ponte Sant' Angelo, Rome, Italy
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vraatja
N 41° 54.107 E 012° 27.983
33T E 289841 N 4641975
One of four stamps depicting some Bernini's statues of Angels on on famous Ponte Sant'Angelo emitted in 1975 in ocassion of the Holy Year.
Waymark Code: WMA12F
Location: Lazio, Italy
Date Posted: 10/29/2010
Views: 25
The series of the stamps emitted in Italy in ocassion of the Holy Year 1975 depicts famous G.L. Bernini's Angel statues placed on Ponte Sant' Angelo. There is 10 statues of Angels on famous Ponte Sant' Angelo. Four of them were depicted on stamps on the serie emitted in 1975.
The Bridge of Angels (in Italian, Ponte Sant'Angelo) spans the Tiber River in Rome. Only a few steps away from St. Peter's Basilica, the bridge reflects the psychological shift from secular to sacred that occurs when pilgrims crossed from the busy streets of Rome over to the churches of the Vatican. Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the famed Italian sculptor, originally designed the bridge's angel sculptures in the seventeenth century. Though few of the angels standing today were done by his hand, Bernini's vision for the bridge lives on.
Five angel sculptures flank each side of the bridge, with statues of Saint Peter and Saint Paul on the eastern bank. At the base of each sculpture is a line from the Bible in Latin. The verses inscribed on many of the sculptures are dissimilar to the verses readers find in today's Bibles, because they are based on an old and superseded scripture translation called the Latin Vulgate.
Below are the Latin inscriptions, their translations, and an explanation of their religious significance.
Angel with the Crown of Thorns
Inscription: "In aerumna mea dum configitur spina"
Translation: The thorn is fastened upon me (Psalm 31:4, Latin Vulgate)
Significance: According to Mark 15:17, Roman soldiers crowned Jesus with thorns before they crucified him.
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