Varga Benedek szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 149-157. (Budapest, 1996)

KRÓNIKA / CHRONICLE - I. A Semmelweis Orvostörténeti Múzeum, Könyvtár és Levéltár kiállításai és rendezvényei - (3) Haláltánc és gyógyítás. Kiállítás a düsseldorfi Heinrich Heine Egyetem Orvostörténeti Intézetének „Ember és Halál” c. grafikai gyűjteményéből. 1995. május 19—szeptember 30. (Mohos Márta)

HANS SCHADEWALD: REMARKS ON THE 'DANSE MACABRE' During the second half of the 14th century and certainly in the 15th century, a new depiction of death emerged in art. This was soon to be known under the global name 'Danse Macabre'. This term has been in continuous use by specialists as well as by the general public although since the 16th century the term "dance" has become less appropriate for the increasing number of presentations. The monumental depictions of the dead dancing a round dance, or a dance of chain formation, had initially been frescoes on the walls of monasteries and churchyards. These were soon to be broken up into isolated groups especially in print form. Death, now symbolised by the skeleton, the mummified corpse or even the well-decayed corpse, forces a mortal being out of this world and was originally represented by a gentle dance which later degenerated into a variety of confrontations. Death, MORS in Latin, QavaroÇin Greek, is, and always has been, an obscure, sombre and mysterious word; a terrible, cruel notion at all times for the myriad of human beings, for various tribes and peoples. Inescapably, death accompanies us throughout our entire life. Although we often try to put him out of our mind, death is still the focus of our life as taught by many philosophers and founders of religions. Death can be seen as something to suffer, something to accept, something to long for or even something which can grant redemption. These are all possible attitudes towards death. Let me present a few tentative interpretations depicting death: Death — according to Karl Jaspers — is the borderline situation of human existence. Death — according to Seren Kirkegaard — is the result of a mortal disease. Death — according to the Mithras cult — is only the passage into another world where the Just will be separated fromt the Unjust. Death — as is the conviction of the Buddhists — is the entry into Nirvana where nobody suffers, the gateway to immortality. For them death is the world of real life, and life itself is nothing more than a trance between what is no more and what is yet to be. There are numerous other metaphors: Death as the Brother of Sleep; Death as Master of the World; Death as malicious dmon who senselessly seeks to carry off life; Death as the indifferent executioner of a superior power, who is sometimes depicted blidfolded like Justitia, slaughtering indiscriminately good and bad, rich and poor, fools and wise men; Death as a friend who approaches quietly like the redeemer, as Alfred Rethel depicted in his unsurpassed woodcuts of ("Der Tod als Freund") in 1851. There are also numerous definitions which have remained unrecognised to this day by the general public, even though death is one of mankind's first phenomena. Death has been experienced as a fundamental event since the day when Homo Sapiens started to reflect upon his own existence. The figure of Death as it confronts us in numerous symbolic and emblematic depictions during the history of art and civilisation, has undergone similar changes. Originally, he was