So my very favorite object in Stockholm is this astounding wooden sculpture of St. George and the Dragon. It’s in the 13th-Century Storkyrkan, or Stockholm Cathedral, in Gamla Stan (The Old City). There aren’t that many 15th century wooden statues still around these days; they don’t survive fire that well. This one survives because of its political, rather than its religious meaning.
Yeah, at first glance it looks like the same old St. George we all know and love. You know, the Roman soldier of Greek origin who was born in Turkey or Syria, and once held a town in Libya hostage by threatening to unleash a dragon on them if they didn’t all convert to Christianity. That guy. But there’s a lot more to this fascinating piece than the tired old myth of St. George.
The statue was made by the German artist Bernt Notke and was commissioned to commemorate Sweden winning its independence from Denmark. Denmark had ruled Sweden for over seventy years until Sten Sture, the elected Swedish regent, defeated the hated Danish King Christian I at the Battle of Brunkeberg in 1471.
So this isn’t merely St. George and the Dragon. The heroic St. George (looking a bit like Helen Reddy, actually), is conquering the Dragon (which is really Danish King Christian I) while the young lady at the left (yeah, that’d be Sweden) looks on approvingly. Even cooler, the Pope sent a cache of saintly relics, including items of St. George himself, to be contained in the statue.
When Sweden went all Protestant just a few decades after this statue was finished, many Catholic relics and works of art were destroyed. The reason that this particular statue survived is mainly because of its great political significance.
But all THAT isn’t really what’s super cool about this statue. Here’s what is: Look closely at the dragon. Look at the spikes and armor? Look closely. Yup, they are made of MOOSE ANTLERS. Yes, you read that right. Actual moose antlers. They’re all over the dragon (see close-up).
I just think that’s so super cool on a double level. First, it’s amazing artistically. Second, it’s just so damn Swedeny, don’t you think?
The statue is so popular a bronze recreation of it was put up a few blocks away in the early 1900s.
PS There is a story, which I am attempting to authenticate, that in some point in the misty past there was a period of rather heated anti-Catholic sentiment in Sweden. A young clerk or cleric or something at the Cathedral feared that the relics in the statue would be seized and destroyed, so he took it on himself to remove them and filed them in an anonymous spot on a shelf somewhere until the climate was safer. He then replaced the relics. Centuries later, another young man randomly found the relics. According to the story, this young man was August Strindberg.
Two more shots from Galma Stan, or Old Town:
Statistics show that young people in Sweden start having sex very early. But I learned yesterday that murderers get a jump on things, too. This little pixie of a killer is preparing to bury her latest victim:
