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The purpose of wall and ceiling paintings inside medieval churches was twofold:

  • The church building represented Heaven and Earth, with paintings representing good overcoming evil and the lives of the Saints or Bible stories at the lower level; while above at the altar end of the church were representations of God, Christ in Majesty and His angels.
  • Most people could not read so The Bible stories and other religious texts were illustrated on church walls to help people understand those stories: St Christopher carrying the baby Jesus across a river, the virtues dressed as knights overcoming Vices, The Temptations of Hell and the results of doing evil things were all illustrated to bring home the message.

Another important aspect was simply about colour - most working people had little or no colour in their lives, since there were no magazines, posters, colourful clothes or television. Their lives were full of browns, greys and straw colour, so the impact of entering a very brightly-painted church building was immense.

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