The Dance of the Angels, the Mysteries of Pseudo-Dionysius and the Architecture of Gothic Cathedrals

Abstract

The bliss of heaven has been characterised by the dance of the angels and the illumination of light. The dance of the angels was commonly depicted on church ceilings and in Medieval and Renaissance paintings. An example of this is the dance of the angels and the blessed from Angleo da Fiesle’s ‘Last Judgement’ painted in 1425 in the collection of the Academia della Belle Arte in Florence. Clement of Alexandria claimed that with the revelation of the Christian mysteries the initiated shall dance with the angels.1 In Medieval hymns there are numerous references to the ring dance of angels or the virgins.2 The spheres of Dante’s Paradise are full of light, music and dance, with the exception of the sphere of Saturn, which was the sphere of contemplation. In the sphere of the sun, the souls of the wise and learned performed a ring dance that encircled Dante and Beatrice. The ethereal light, harmony and the bliss of heaven radiated from this dance of the souls.3 In Pseudo-Dionysius’s ‘Celestial Hierarchy’ the nine spheres of angels dance a celestial choral dance. The angels’ task was to receive and to pass on the divine light, and through this illumination comes the understanding that brings perfection.4 Cosmic dance became linked with the Christian mysteries of baptism and the Eucharist.