Editing Swastika (section)

====Middle Ages====

In Christianity, the swastika is used as a hooked version of the [[Christian Cross]], the symbol of Christ's victory over death. Some Christian churches built in the [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] and [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]] eras are decorated with swastikas, carrying over earlier Roman designs. Swastikas are prominently displayed in a [[mosaic]] in the [[Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv]], dating from the 12th century. They also appear as a repeating ornamental motif on the so-called [[Sarcophagus of Stilicho]] in the [[Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio]] in [[Milan]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n8YNAQAAIAAJ&q=Basilica+of+St.+Ambrose+in+Milan+swastika&pg=PA541|title=The Open Court|last=Carus|first=Paul|date=1907|publisher=Open Court Publishing Company|language=en}}</ref>

A ceiling painted in 1910 in the [[Grenoble Archaeological Museum]] (the former church of St Laurent) has many swastikas. A proposed direct link between it and a swastika floor mosaic in the [[Amiens Cathedral]], which was built on top of a pagan site at [[Amiens]], France in the 13th century, is considered{{Who|date=February 2025}} unlikely. The [[Stole (vestment)|stole]] worn by a priest in the 1445 [[Seven Sacraments Altarpiece|painting of the Seven Sacraments]] by [[Rogier van der Weyden]] presents the swastika form simply as one way of depicting the cross.

Swastikas also appear in art and architecture during the [[Renaissance]] and [[Baroque]] era. The fresco ''[[The School of Athens]]'' shows an ornament made out of swastikas, and the symbol can also be found on the facade of the ''Santa Maria della Salute'', a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica located at [[Punta della Dogana]] in the [[Dorsoduro]] [[Sestiere (Venice)|sestiere]] of the city of [[Venice]].

In the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Polish First Republic]] swastika symbols were also popular with the nobility. Several noble houses, e.g. Boreyko, Borzym, and Radziechowski from Ruthenia, also had swastikas as their [[coat of arms]]. The family reached its greatness in the 14th and 15th centuries and its crest can be seen in many heraldry books produced at that time.

The swastika was also a heraldic symbol, for example on the [[Boreyko coat of arms]], used by noblemen in Poland and Ukraine. In the 19th century a swastika was one of the Russian Empire's symbols and was used on coinage as a backdrop to the [[Coat of arms of Russia#1721–1917: Russian Empire|Russian eagle]].<ref name="ruskolan.xpomo.com" />

<gallery class="center">
File:Bashkort symbol of Sun.svg|[[Bashkirs]] symbol of the sun and fertility
File:ShaveyZion1.jpg|Mosaic swastika in an excavated [[Byzantine]] church in [[Shavei Tzion]], (Israel)
File:Jewish swastika.jpg|A swastika composed of Hebrew letters as a mystical symbol from the Jewish [[Kabbalah|Kabbalistic]] work "Parashat Eliezer", from the 18th century or earlier
File:Winchestercathedralheadonwilliamedingtontomb crop.jpg|Swastikas on the vestments of the effigy of Bishop [[William Edington]] (d. 1366) in [[Winchester Cathedral]]
File:Swastika Stone, Ilkley (reproduction) - geograph.org.uk - 48282.jpg|The Victorian-era reproduction of the [[Swastika Stone]] on [[Ilkley Moor]], which sits near the original to aid visitors in interpreting the carving
</gallery>