Iconografía Popular
Sacred images have also been represented in ways suited to the taste, beliefs, and needs of the common people, either by inexperienced folk artists or by artists who intentionally directed their work to the lower classes.
The assertions of medieval texts (*imagines sunt libri laicorum, invisibilia per visibilia*) confirm the great importance attached to the intrinsic value of these representations. This gave rise to a rich and varied production, uninterrupted through the centuries, in which the lyrical synthesis characteristic of popular art sometimes found expression.
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Iconostasis
The iconostasis is a structure that separates the sanctuary from the rest of the church, allowing the faithful to see only the most sacred part of the church. In this form, it also took the name of *pergula* (v.).
The origin of the iconostasis is quite clear. In the most ancient monuments of a church or public chapel, access to the altar was always protected by a balustrade equipped with gates in the center, upon which columns or pillars surmounted by an architrave were later erected. At the top, sacred images (hence the name) and statues were placed, along with hanging lamps and votive crowns. The iconostasis was generally constructed from precious materials (at S. Giovanni Evangelista in Ravenna, Galla Placidia had one made of silver) or elaborately worked materials (in ancient S. Pietro, it was supported by columns still extant). No original examples remain in Rome (the one in S. Maria in Cosmedin has been rebuilt based on reliable data); however, in central Italy, there are quite a few: a provincial but complete and richly decorated example is that of the Benedictine church of S. Maria in Valle in Rosciolo, dating to the 12th century. Also from the same period are those in the duomo of Torcello, with a painted architrave, and in S. Marco in Venice, rich in marble, topped with statues. A kind of iconostasis is found in Spain, in some churches of Asturias, where, however, the columns do not support an entablature but rather horseshoe-shaped arches raised high (S. Cristina de Lena near Oviedo; S. Miguel de Escalada near León), a type that seems to derive from the real *mihrab* of Arab mosques. The closed-wall type, of which no ancient examples remain (though it was in use in the Middle Ages, as seen in Giotto’s fresco in Assisi depicting the Nativity at Greccio), still exists in the East, where it has developed in a particular way. Icons of the Lord and the saints were hung on the columns, especially during the iconoclastic controversies. Later, they filled the spaces between the columns. Sometimes additional tiers were added, reaching almost to the vault of the church. The figures of Christ, the Madonna, St. John the Baptist, the patrons of the church or locality, painted on wood, are always distinguished on the iconostasis. Others represent the various categories of saints from the calendar or the principal liturgical feasts. A cross is placed above the iconostasis. Three doors provide access to the sanctuary: a main one in the center for the officiants, and two smaller side doors for altar service. A curtain is hung behind the main door; it seems to have replaced the veil of the ciborium, which once shielded the celebrants from the view of the faithful at certain moments of the sacred rites. — See plates XCVI–XCVII.
For the special development that the *pergula* or iconostasis took in certain Western regions, see **LECTORIUM**.