Dragana Van de Moortel-Ilić

Images of the Sun, the Moon and planets in Serbian medieval churches

Abstract

This lecture presents my research on the celestial-religious images in the Visoki Dečani monastery in Kosovo, with the focus on the images of the Sun and the Moon in the fresco The Crucifixion of Christ, which contains human figures and had been the subject of controversy. While Erich von Däniken claimed that the images containing figures in what appeared to be aerodynamic vehicles were proof of their extra-terrestrial visit to Earth, these images have been mostly ignored in academic circles. My speech concentrates on possible explanations as to why these figures were painted and what they could possibly present, through the comparison with similar images from other Serbian medieval churches.

Biography

Dragana Van de moortel-Ilić completed MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology, doing a research on cosmological elements in celestial-religious paintings in medieval Serbian churches. Dragana worked as research assistant in chemistry at the university of Novi Sad, Serbia, but from 1991 she works as professional astrologer. She runs a school of astrology in Ghent, Belgium, and she is active as a mentor at the Institute for Psychological Astrology and Psychoanalysis, IPAL, in Slovenia and at the Faculty of Astrological Studies, UK.