Katherine Guinness

The Wienhausen Grabeschristus Katherine Guinness

The Wienhausen Effigy of Christ (or Grabeschristus) is a 15th century religious artwork from the Wienhausen Cloister in northern Germany. This book explains the effigy's origins, usage, and overall history. Breaking through the relative mystery surrounding this unique artwork demonstrates how its position in the Cloister as a liturgical object, reliquary, pilgrimage site, meditational tool, and subject of intense religious performance and mysticism is both common for the time and highly unusual. It provides a valuable understanding of how 15th century women, particularly nuns, worshiped, thought, and lived. This book tracks the known history of the Effigy as well as the Wienhausen Cloister and includes works from the Wienhausen Kloister archives, primary texts, and personal interviews.