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Saint
John of Rila, wood icon , XVII-XVIIIth century, Bulgaria.
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If an eminent
place like the mountains of Rila (Bulgaria) is marked by an imposing monastery,
it is to answer a building project which proceeds itself from an intention,
a retreat, such as an ermit can form it. How does the legend, such as it
is fixed in the Vita of the saint, contribute to draw the perspective in
which the pilgrim, after the monk, his instructor, perceives the mountain ?
Is it not rather the image, here the icon, that determines this perception
by giving to the mountains surrounding the monastery the configutration
of a site suitable to the encounter of two eminent figures, a saint and
a tsar ? But could the icon be deciophered without the legend that relates
the episodes of the fabulous encounter of this tsar and this saint ? Could
other figures be concealed under the apparences of the heroes of faith and
force ?
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