ABSTRACT
At Autun hundreds of fragments survive from the mausoleum built over the supposed body of Lazarus, the friend of Christ raised from death on the fourth day. Excavations have recently clarified further the form of the monument and how it worked as the centre of a cult created in the mid-12th century and in some ways complementary to the much older cult of Lazarus’ sister, Mary Magdalene, at nearby Vézelay. Also surviving are several accounts of how a pilgrim visited the shrine and what he saw within the mausoleum: a tableau vivant with figures carved in the round in stone, prophetic of so many groups in stone, ivory, wood and metal created in the Gothic period. In terms of iconography it seems possible that there was a conscious visual reference to the tomb of Lazarus at Bethany. The Autun monument is the best-documented shrine in Romanesque Europe.
