Creation of Eve and Original Sin

Creation of Eve and Original Sin

On the Płock Doors, the Creator is depicted with the physiognomy of Christ and a cruciform nimbus around His head. This anthropomorphically depicted Divine Person, Omnipotens Deus, represents the Holy Trinity, as the act of creation is the work of the entire Trinity. Since angels are present during this act, the panel belongs to the so-called angelological type of Creation imagery, which replaced the Roman type showing the work of six days. This interpretation comes from St. Augustine, who saw the angel as a symbol of light (fiat Lux id est angelorum natura). The Creation of Eve was shown more often than the Creation of Adam, directing thoughts towards Mary. The typological relationship between Eve and Mary comes from the Church Fathers. The creation of Eve from Adam’s rib typologically foreshadows the wound in Christ’s side inflicted on the Cross.

The panel on the Płock Doors is an exceptional depiction because the fall of the angels is shown simultaneously with the creation of man and alongside the scene of Original Sin. In summary, the panel presents the general creation of the world (the world of spirits and matter), the fall and expulsion of the angels, the creation and fall of man, and consequently, the expulsion from paradise.

Płock Doors

The Płock Doors, also known as the Magdeburg Doors, Korsun Doors, or Sigtuna Doors, were bronze doors once located in the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Płock. This is a relic of Romanesque art. Currently, the original doors are in the western portal of St. Sophia’s Cathedral in Veliky Novgorod, Russia, and a bronze casting (copy) has been in the Płock Cathedral since 1982.

Research indicates that the doors were probably in Płock for about 250 years before they adorned St. Sophia’s Cathedral in Veliky Novgorod. It is unclear how the doors ended up in Novgorod. According to a 15th-century legend, they were brought from Byzantium by Prince Vladimir the Great via Korsun in Crimea (hence the name Korsun Doors), although this is unlikely.

According to some historical hypotheses, they were looted in the 13th century by Lithuanians during their raid on Masovia. Other historians believe they were given as a gift by the Polish clergy or the dukes of Płock to Prince Lingwen Olgierdovich of Novgorod, brother of Władysław II Jagiełło. Some sources say they arrived in Novgorod as early as 1170, shortly after being made, while others suggest before the mid-15th century. According to a version announced in 1823 by Friedrich von Adelung, the doors are a military trophy of the Novgorodians (specifically Karelians, Estonians, Izhoras, and northern Russians), who captured them in 1187 during an expedition to the then-capital of Sweden, Sigtuna (hence the 19th-century name Sigtuna Doors).

The doors for the Płock Cathedral were ordered by Bishop Alexander of Malonne (died 1156). Master Riquin, with assistant Waismut, cast them in bronze using the lost-wax technique between 1152 and 1154 in one of the Magdeburg foundries. It is uncertain whether it belonged to the local fabrica ecclesiae, operating at the cathedral, managed by Bishop Wichman of Wettin (c. 1110–1192).

Figures of bishops and craftsmen are among the reliefs, to which in the first quarter of the 15th century, the representation of a Russian caster, Master Abraham, was added. He also adapted the doors to the western portal of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Veliky Novgorod, adding Cyrillic inscriptions translated from Latin. It is hypothetically assumed that the doors were looted from Płock at the end of the 13th century and, after various fates, were hung as a “copper icon” in an Orthodox church at the beginning of the 15th century.