Convegno internazionale sugli amboni istoriati toscani
Con sacra rappresentazione: Elements gruppa teatrale della Community of Jesus
And the Word was made Beautiful — The Gospel in Carved Marble

The conference takes up the theme treated in 1996 in the study day held at the Academy of Arts Design of Florence, “Tuscan medieval pulpits”, whose acts, presented by Francesco Gurrieri and edited by Daniela Lamberini, were published by Olschki in 1998.  To promote the new edition of the event is the Ecumenical Centre of Art and Spirituality Mount Tabor, founded in Barga in 2013 on the initiative of the Community of Jesus, an American Protestant monastic community. Interested in the traditional Scriptures of the Reformed Churches, on the one hand, and the passion of the Community of Jesus for the visual and performing arts, on the other, suggests the focus of the conference on the period in which the ambos used for the proclamation of divine word also became places of sculptural display.

The conference aims to review some fundamental questions: § Why, at that time, and at Tuscan patrons, was it necessary to view the contents of the Gospel in the place of its liturgical proclamation? § What connection did this innovation have with the spirituality of the time,  with preaching and sacred theater? § What stylistic sources inspired the artists? § What internal developments have characterized this phenomenon?

Included at each venue will be the presentation of a medieval Mystery Play entitled “Quem Quaeritis,” by Elements Theatre Company. These plays, using a form of theatre well-known in the 12^th and 13^th centuries, will bring to life the very stories and characters carved into the ambos during that medieval time period. Elements will present “Quem Quaeritis” in traditional Latin, interspersed with Gregorian chant. Elements Theatre Company is a non-profit, professional theatre ensemble of 16 artists-in-residence who perform both classical and modern works year-round in Orleans, MA.