The Sigüenza Cathedral in Spain displays what it calls “The Allegories of Pallas Athena,” consisting of eight tapestries exalting the goddess.

     The prelate D. Andrés Bravo of Salamanca, bought them from a famous workshop in the city of Brussels, and donated them to the cathedral. Designed by an unnamed flamenco artist, a follower of the painter Charles Poerson, and executed in the workshops of Jean le Clerc and Daniel II Eggermans, they were hung for the first time in the main chapel of the cathedral on November 30, 1664.

     At that time, the gift of tapestries to the cathedrals, given their high manufacturing cost, was the maximum expression of the artistic patronage of its prelates, and the clearest manifestation of affection for its headquarters.

     In 2014, the Athena collection of flamenco tapestries was restored, giving them back the color and magnificence that the dust of the centuries concealed.

     Miraculously saved from wars and looting, they are exhibited in the Cathedral of Sigüenza to the astonishment of the visitors.

     The cathedral explains, “Through this wonderful set of eight tapestries, Pallas Athena, the goddess of Wisdom, teaches us that peace brings prosperity and well-being to the Peoples of the Earth, and it is the governor's mission to preserve it.”

ATHENA ESTABLISHES HUMANITY’S RELIGION FROM THE GROUND UP

     In this tapestry scene, Athena and a woman representing Peace raise Religion up from the ground. The young woman representing Religion carries in one hand a book and in the other a flame⏤presumably the wisdom to interpret the book.

     Peace points to three birds in the sky indicating that this takes place on a day of good omen. As Religion rises through Athena’s strength, priests perform various pagan rituals on an altar in front of an ancient temple of Apollo.

     The meaning of the scene as expressed by the cathedral: In peacetime, the good ruler will help maintain religion and its rites.

     Pagan priests attended Athena in her ancient temples. God gives to the body of Christ, not priests with their rites and dogma, but evangelists, pastors, and teachers (Ephesians 4:11) who share the “ideal teaching” of the apostle Paul’s (I Timothy 4:6) which includes the good news of the grace of God.