The Three Women at the Tomb

12th-13th century
Fresco
Cathedral of Notre Dame, Le Puy-en-Velay, France

As in Matthew 28:2 the angel sits on a stone and points to the square at the base of the tomb, with its inscription recording his words to the women, SURREXIT, NON EST HIC, "He is not here, he has risen" (28:6). On the left are the women – three of them, as in Mark 16.

As in the ancient Three Women images, the tomb is represented as an aedicule similar to the one in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, but in this case less round and topped by a cross. The dark part of the square to which the angel points should be the interior of the tomb, and the white object possibly the burial cloths that Peter and John saw when they entered the tomb (John 20:6).

Read more about the Resurrection.

Photographed at the cathedral by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.