Description
Central tympanum of the Narthex- General View
This tympanum has been identified by various scholars as the Ascension, the Pentecost, the Mission of the Apostles, or some conflation of these episodes. In the center is a large nimbed Christ figure in a mandorla seated on a throne? From his hands extend lines (rays of power? Light?) which extend to the smaller figures to his right or left (6 on each side?) Many of these subsidiary figures (apostles?) hold books or scrolls, though St Peter can be distinguished by the keys he carries (Two other enlarged figures stand in the middle of the lintel. The lintel contains a frieze of small, standing figures, sometimes identified with the heathens of "Peoples of the World" that the apostles are to convert to Christianity. Surrounding the central part of the tympanum is an archivolt containing eight compartments - four on each side. These compartments contains figures- some of them unnatural- some authorities say these are the peoples of the world as described by Pliny. The beyond this is another archivolt with small roundels containing the signs of the zodiac and the labors of the months.
