Detail of tombstone with winged soul in pediment and two angels playing trumpets and standing on globes, St Mary's Church burial ground, Banff.

Description Detail of tombstone with winged soul in pediment and two angels playing trumpets and standing on globes, St Mary's Church burial ground, Banff.

Date 8/1965

Collection Records of the Scottish National Buildings Record, Edinburgh, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 801733

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of BN 146

Scope and Content Written on verso of the mounted print: 'Shire: Banffshire. Place: Banff. Building: St Mary's Church, Carmelite Street. Photographer: G.N. Date: August 1965'. Gravestone with Angels of the Resurrection, St Mary's Church and Burial-Ground, Church Street, Banff, Aberdeenshire This gravestone features a winged soul (symbol of the spirit ascending to Heaven after death) in its tympanum (top). In the main panel below are two angels standing on globes who sound trumpets to call the dead from their graves on the Day of Judgement. The ends of the trumpets combine to form a circle, an interesting compositional effect. Between them are an hourglass (emblem of the brevity of life), an open Bible (emblem of faith) and a coffin (a death emblem). These Judgement Day angels, with their loincloths and globes, are to be found on several gravestones here at Banff. Scenes depicting believers rising from the dead on the Day of Judgement are common on many Scottish gravestones. The imagery is derived from the following text from I Corinthians 15: 51-2: 'Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed'. This gravestone, dating from the mid-18th century stands amongst many other such memorials in a crowded burial-ground which dates from the medieval period. Most of the monuments date from between the 16th century and the 19th century. Details of the inscription on this stone are not available. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

External Reference MW/BR/BAN/120

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/801733

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap