A garden of symbols with a horseman at its gate

Today, aside from its original meaning, a manuscript can commonly refer to an author’s typed text that has not yet been published in a final form.

This unfinished phase describes my ongoing journey through the gateways of the 233 medieval dangale symbols I have discovered in 2019 at the The History Museum of Agnita. Under the guardianship of the horseman of the village of Bălcaciu, I delve into an allegorical investigation of these beautifully archived markings of the Transylvanian Saxons. By interweaving culture, mythology, natural history and imaginary abstractions together with the historical, I search to illuminate connections and expand possibilities. 

The characters depicted in the pages of the manuscript are copies of the original ones from Carl Franz Koch’s book, published in 1826, in the city of Sibiu. Hand-drawn in black ink, akin to Japanese calligraphy, Shodo, they represent a unique historical archive of medieval language in Transylvania. Primarily used to brand livestock and stored sacks of grain, these iron-carved tools were characteristic to each Saxon village up until the middle of the XXth century.

Nine threads on the loom of interpretation.

CRUCE / CROSS

LITERE, INIȚIALE / LETTERS, INITIALS

UNELTE / TOOLS

APE / BODIES OF WATER

FAUNĂ, FLORĂ / FAUNA, FLORA

OBIECTE / OBJECTS

HĂRȚI / MAPS

AMALGAMATE / MISCELLANEOUS

PORȚI / GATEWAYS

These categories share common elemental characteristics, some more obvious and familiar than others — like the straightforward, universal CROSS symbol, the LETTERS,INITIALS and FAUNA, FLORA follow suit.

The more mysterious fall under the scope of a more personal, intuitive classification — the sinous BODIES OF WATER, alongside the centuries-old TOOLS and OBJECTS, as well as the distinctive MAPS of the villages themselves.

The MISCELLANEOUS part of the manuscript, with its multifarious aspect is open to new unexpected correspondences and historical findings, while GATEWAYS touches upon the heart of this journey. Here, the symbol reveals the boundless kinship between matter and spirit. A duality that is continuously being overcome by the pure experience of being plunged into its depths. Over and over.