sacred signs roadside architecture
material culture | greece by rutger huiberts and evangelos kotsioris
memorials roads churches icons signification
Roadside shrines are found in many cultures and countries, performing various religious functions. In Greece, it is almost impossible to go on a road trip and not see myriads of distinctive miniature church-like structures at the sides of the roads, known as eikonostasia . As macabre as it might sound, these small religious objects function as memorials to people killed in traffic accidents (less often as a thankful oblation from a survivor). They are placed on or near the spot where the accident happened by the family involved, and inside contain an icon of a holy figure together with a range of items, usually an oil lamp or a candle, a bottle of oil, wicks, flowers and sometimes pictures of the people that lost their lives. Locals seem to hardly notice them, mainly because of their complete integration in the (sub)urban landscape but also because of their specialised function. Members of the affected families visit regularly to clean them and light the lamps and candles. However, the existence of these shrines is not only meaningful to them, it also offers a multiplicity of meanings to local society. Εἰκονοστάσι (- ον ) ( eikonostási ( -on ) in Greek literally means ‘icon stand’, the place where the icon is put. In Greek Orthodox tradition, the family shrine is a place in the house dedicated to family prayer, usually put in an eastern facing wall or corner where icons are placed. Beyond the walls of the house, throughout the centuries, similar shrines were put outside the towns as beacons of habitation in remote areas, guiding travellers along the routes
and announcing the vicinity of a settlement. Eikonostasia as memorials to road accident deaths is a relatively new phenomenon that complements the common roadside building typologies that came with the arrival of the automobile. Nowadays, at certain points on the road, one is shocked to see whole groups of them – Greek roads and drivers do not enjoy the best reputation in terms of safety, at least not compared to the rest of Europe. But there is more to the eikonostasia than the memorial function. These ever-increasing miniature churches form an informal network of spot interventions that do make a bigger whole; they signify death outside of the cemeteries and stand for a loud and clear warning sign for road users– ‘this is a dangerous curve, people have died here’. In earlier days, the forms and character of the eikonostasia were as simple as they were diverse. Shrines were ad hoc , designed by the relatives themselves or craftsmen from the circle of the family. They all had something in common; they represented the minimal means to provide a sacred space for the icons stored inside. Icon, or Eikona in Greek, literally means image . Followers of Greek Orthodox tradition do not depict God or God’s creation. This implies that any kind of depiction has to be abstract. Greek- Orthodox icons, especially, are abstract representations of the saints they signify; the icon presents a sign of a holy figure, not a real image of it.
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On Site review 23
Small Things
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