Seven medieval tapestries woven around 1500 still hide the meaning of two letters

arts, ideas & societyThe Public Domain Review1495–1505 · Paris and Brussels

Seven medieval tapestries woven around 1500 still hide the meaning of two letters

the gist

The Unicorn Tapestries are seven large wall hangings woven in wool and silk with silver and gilt thread, probably designed in Paris and made in Brussels or Liège around 1495 to 1505. They follow a hunt: the unicorn is tracked, wounded, killed and finally shown tame and chained, possibly alive again. Every flower, animal and gesture carried a medieval meaning, so the unicorn can stand for Christ, a lover, or marriage and fertility. Scholars have also found the letters A and E woven into several scenes, but no one has confirmed what they stand for, and an early idea that Anne of Brittany commissioned them for her wedding has been discredited. The La Rochefoucauld family owned the set for centuries before John D. Rockefeller Jr. bought it and gave it to The Met Cloisters in 1937.

how it works

Tapestries were woven on large looms with coloured wool and silk threads, with precious metals added for highlights. Designers worked from cartoons, and weavers in workshops like Brussels turned them into cloth one row at a time. Medieval art used a shared visual vocabulary of plants, animals and gestures, which is why the scenes carry so many layered meanings.

so what

The tapestries show how much a late medieval viewer could read into a single image, and how much of that code is now lost. They are also one of the finest surviving examples of Flemish weaving, which was the most prestigious luxury art of its time. Their unsolved letters make them a standing puzzle for art historians.

the bigger pattern

Medieval courts used tapestries as portable luxury, hung in halls to show wealth and taste, and they often carried allegories about love and faith. Later mysterious artworks, such as the Bayeux Tapestry, also keep their original purpose partly unclear. Many surviving medieval programmes lost their key texts, so modern viewers reconstruct meaning from fragments.

fun fact

The Unicorn Tapestries were bought by John D. Rockefeller Jr., who donated them to The Met Cloisters in New York in 1937, where they are still displayed.

Hampi was once one of the world's largest cities, until its Vijayanagara capital was destroyed in 1565

the gist

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.

how it works

The city was built around a fortified core with temples, markets and water structures along the river, supplied by an extensive network of roads and waterworks. When the empire fell, the city was not rebuilt, so its stone monuments were left standing.

so what

Hampi shows how quickly a great city can vanish after a military defeat, and how a ruined capital can remain sacred. Its ruins give historians a view of medieval South Asia that few other sites can match.

fun fact

The name Hampi comes from Pampa, an old name for the Tungabhadra River.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

2 min

politicsshortCNA2:01

False allegations about Singapore’s hand in Indonesia’s markets and a made-up meeting

from CNA

CNA Verify has found close to 400 posts pushing falsehoods tying Singapore to Indonesia’s stock market rout and to a secret meeting that never took place. Together, they drew nearly 12 million views, and some were circulated by accounts that appeared to be working in concert, across multiple social media platforms.

Here’s how the disinformation campaign targeting Singapore was uncovered.

on YouTube: CNA ↗