Torvet i Anticoli Corrado, Italien 1873

Niels Bredal painted this Italian town square on canvas. Look to the right. Rising above the aged stone wall is a cross. The cross is a powerful symbol with a long, winding history. Before Christianity, similar symbols appeared in various cultures, often tied to cosmological ideas. The swastika, for example, shares a geometric resemblance and was used to represent concepts like the sun's journey across the sky or the cyclical nature of life. Over time, the Christian cross became synonymous with sacrifice and redemption, its image imbued with centuries of artistic and theological interpretations. Like a persistent dream, the cross reappears throughout art history, each time subtly altered by the cultural and psychological landscape. It evokes a deep sense of faith, hope, or even suffering. Its cyclical progression highlights our human tendency to find patterns and assign meaning to the chaos of existence.