3 1 6 THE GERMAN PASSION-PLA Y 



triforium, the rood-loft, or even a gallery running along 

 the top of the choir-stalls, and in some cases behind the 

 altar. This gallery will be reached by a staircase or by 

 steps from the choir. Now such an arrangement is 

 eminently suited for the Easter scenic ritual. The door 

 of the crypt serves for the gate of hell, the main body 

 of the choir containing the sepulchre for earth, while the 

 rood-loft or gallery represents heaven. Where the folk 

 were admitted to the Elevatio Crucis (see p. 295), the 

 main door of the church could not represent hell-gate, 

 but some other had to be selected, and the door into 

 the crypt was a very suitable place for the subdeacons, 

 who represented Satan and his followers, to stand. It 

 is further to be noted that the rood, symbolising the 

 deity, after being taken from its ' usual place ' on Good 

 Friday and placed in the sepulchre, was restored after 

 the Elevatio on Easter Day. 1 Now the 'usual place' 

 for the rood is either the rood-loft, if one exists, or above 

 the altar, or above the entrance to the choir. The 

 removal of the rood marks the earthly mission, the 

 descent from heaven ; its replacement the fulfilment of 

 the mission, and the return to heaven. Gallery, choir, 

 and crypt thus obtain a new significance, they are the 

 heaven, earth, and hell of the scenic ritual ; and their 

 relative elevations are in accordance with folk-belief. 



'heaven.' On the left of the sepulchre there is a door which may well have 

 stood for hell-gate. This arrangement should be compared with an engraving 

 by the Swabian master (E. S.), dating from 1466, in honour of Our Lady of 

 Einsiedeln ; below there is a sepulchre, above the Virgin and the Trinity in a 

 gallery. Compton Church, with its altar-gallery, has also a sepulchre which is 

 reproduced in the Glossary of Architecture, vol. i. p. 422. 



1 Deinde crucifixum reponitur ad locum suum solitum, Augsburg Ritual, G, 

 pp. 129, 132. 



