Altar door curtains, zavese and temple veils

In the old Christian churches, the nave was separated from the altar - as in the Jewish temples - only by a curtain, simple or embroidered, whose Greek name was iconostasis; later a parapet was placed, used even today in Catholic churches, known as the cancel which means in Latin “to surround with trellis”. There are two categories of objects with distinct names and destinations: the zavese and the altar door curtains. As a rule, the zavese were placed on the upper side of the temple - the first iconostasis - covering the empty spaces above the icons. Their names mean curtains. The functions of the altar door curtains, on the other hand, is to cover the empty spaces below the icons through which one could pass; they had the function of doorways between the nave and the altar. Around the 15th century a new delimitative system between the nave and the altar appears - the iconostasis, a monumental construction of sculpted, golden or polychrome wood, with five registers of icons on superposed friezes, set according to rigorous rules. In the new system the role of the zaveste and altar door curtains is very restricted, as they cover only the grand altar doors - the ones in the middle of the iconostasis and the deacon doors situated each to the right and left of the former ones. Thus, the old distinction between the zavesa and the altar door curtain gradually vanishes - the two coming to represent the same object. Today, the altar door curtain, the zavesa and the temple veil or curtain are the same thing: a curtain of various dimensions and shapes, square or rectangular, embroidered with various iconographic and symbolic scenes - The Annunciation, Jesus’ birth, the Crucifixion, the Assumption of the Holy Virgin - or only with simple decorative geometric or vegetal motifs.


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