I came across this photo today, purported to be a 17th Century Polish serpent pulpit.
Being married to someone who for years climbed into many varieties of pulpits, this really caught my attention and had me looking into this further. This one is in Dobroszów, a village in in south-western Poland. From 1750.
But it turns out this may actually be a whale and whale pulpits were quite come in eastern Europe during the 1700's. One explanation I found was this:
"A preacher coming out of its mouth looks like a Biblical prophet. But that is not all! The thing is that in the Middle Ages preachers liked to use typological interpretations of the Old and New Testament stories; basically the idea was that the events of the Old Testament were seen to prefigure ones found in the Gospels. In this case, Jonah staying in the belly of the fish for three days was anticipating Christ staying for three days in his tomb after his death. And so, the scene of Jonah being swallowed by the fish was juxtaposed with the Entombment of Christ, while the depictions of Jonah emerging from the whale accompanied the images of Resurrection".
This link explains and also has photos of eastern Europe churches with these whale pulpits still standing. I find this fascinating.
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