Beyond the World – Visions of the Hereafter until the Time of Dante (on the Margins of the Cancelled Exhibition)

Abstract

The author presents a sketch of the history of concepts and imaginative geography of the lands located in the hereafter: earthly and heavenly Paradise, Purgatory and Heaven. He reaches back to the origins of these images in ancient Eastern cultures, the culture of Antiquity, and patristic writings. He traces their development throughout the Middle Ages to the time of Dante, whose La Commedia sanctioned the separation of the hereafter into topographically located Hell, Purgatory and Paradise.