tashabilities:

medievalpoc:

So, someone just dropped this in my inbox, and no, I haven’t written about it but I knew about it. This is the sort of thing that happens, unfortunately. I do have a post about the Black Madonna of Chartres, Our Lady of the Pillar.

Here’s the linked article above, and here’s another article from someone who visited for a pilgrimage, with photos, from patheos.com.

 They did this in 2009.

They “restored” the entire cathedral based on how they have assumed its builders in the Middle Ages (the 1200s) intended it to be. Including, but not limited to, painting a Black Madonna white.

No matter what you think about the Black Madonnas of Europe, or the arguments about their meaning and intent or anything like that, painting her this way is both an academic and a religious sacrilege. There is…a lot to say about the whole debacle, but I’ve already been rubbing my forehead enough over this. I’ll just say that this “restoration” says a lot more about society today than any medieval society.

Oh, HELL NAH