I is for Icon in ABC Wednesday

Last autumn we visited the Greek island of Rodos (Rhodos, Rhodes). Like many other tourists we joined some of the guided tours that the tour operator had on offer. One of them went into the mountains where we should see something or other.

I wandered a little bit off by myself and found a small chapel nearby. It was open, so I entered - and found this:

A tiny, whitewashed, beautiful, little chapel filled with a large amount of icons. Wikipedia has this to say about icons:

An icon (from Greek εἰκών, eikōn, "image") is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Orthodox Christianity. More broadly the term is used in a wide number of contexts for an image, picture, or representation; it is a sign or likeness that stands for an object by signifying or representing it either concretely or by analogy, as in semiotics; by extension

And furthermore:

In Eastern Christianity and other icon-painting Christian traditions, the icon is generally a flat panel painting depicting a holy being or object such as Jesus, Mary, saints, angels, or the cross. Icons may also be cast in metal, carved in stone, embroidered on cloth, done in mosaic or fresco work, printed on paper or metal, etc.

On every wall there were neatly arranged small icons. I was the only tourist who went in, so I used the opportunity to take some photos. I may be non-religious myself, but I never use flash-light in other peoples sacred places without being expressively told to do so. It is called respect. However the door was open, there was light from the window and the walls were white. No problem to get decent pictures with ISO 1600 and 1/125 seconds exposure.

But look below for yourself:


And the chapel itself? Whitewashed and maintained in the most impressive manner.



Today's post is an entry in the fourth round of ABC Wednesday, the meme initiated by Denise Nesbitt.

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