Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The National Gallery has three entrances facing Trafalgar Square: The main Portico En-
trance (under the dome, in the center), the low-key Getty Entrance (to the right as you face
the building), and the Sainsbury Entrance (in the smaller building to the left of the main
entrance).
• Enter through the Sainsbury Entrance. Pick up the handy map (£1) and climb the stairs.
At the top, turn left, then left again through Room 51, and enter Room 52.
In Rooms 52 and 53, shiny gold paintings of saints, angels, Madonnas, and crucifixions
float in an ethereal gold never-never land. One thing is very clear: Medieval heaven was
different from medieval earth. The holy wore gold plates on their heads. Faces were serene
and generic. People posed stiffly, facing either directly out or to the side, never in between.
Saints are recognized by the symbols they carry (a key, a sword, a book), rather than by
their human features.
Art in the Middle Ages was religious, dominated by the Church. The illiterate faithful
could meditate on an altarpiece and visualize heaven. It's as though they couldn't imagine
saints and angels inhabiting the dreary world of rocks, trees, and sky they lived in.
