Queen’s Antependium in the Roskilde Cathedral | 罗斯基勒大教堂内女王的祭坛帷幔

Thank Shaw for his English reading recording, which you could listen to by clicking the audio above.
感谢肖为本文提供英文朗读录音，点击上方音频可听。

My friend Jody came to Copenhagen from London. We went to Roskilde together the day before the Christmas Eve. There, we visited the Roskilde Cathedral (Danish: Roskilde Domkirke), Denmark’s royal burial church with a history of 800 years.

我的朋友晓萌从伦敦来到哥本哈根，我们在平安夜的前一天一起去了罗斯基勒，并参观了罗斯基勒大教堂（丹麦语：Roskilde Domkirke）。这是丹麦一个有着800年历史的皇家陵寝教堂。

There are too many magnificent and exquisite things to see in the church: the architecture, the decorations, the organ, the altarpiece, the monuments, the treasures……We spent several hours inside. At the time I was amazed by the carved altarpiece standing behind the altar table, Jody, who was sitting aside for a rest, suddenly waved at me excitedly that a woman sitting next to her was telling her a story about textiles.

这里有太多精美壮观的东西可以看了：建筑、装饰、管风琴、祭坛画、纪念碑、馆藏珍宝……我们在此停留了好几个小时。正当我为竖立在祭坛后的雕刻画所称奇时，坐一旁休息的晓萌突然兴奋地朝我招手，因为一位坐她旁边的女士正在给她讲关于纺织品的故事。

The woman was talking about the antependium hanging in front of the altar table. It is a red cloth with Christian patterns. I had noticed this piece but failed to see its craftsmanship clearly due to the distance. With a lack of knowledge about Christianity, I could not well understand the motifs either. So, I didn’t pay much attention to it at first.

这位女士讲的是挂在祭坛前的一块帷幔。这是一块有着基督教图案的红布，此前我就注意到它，但由于距离太远，我没能看清它的工艺。而由于缺乏基督教相关的知识背景，我也不太能看懂上面的图案，所以就没太关注。

The woman told us, this antependium is made by the Queen (Margrethe II, 1940- ) and her mother (Queen Ingrid, 1910-2000). The patterns on it are all biblical motifs. It is not usually shown to the public but hung here specially for Christmas these days. She knew the information from the internet and came to see it specifically.

这位女士告诉我们，这件帷幔是丹麦女王（玛格丽特二世，1940- ）和她的妈妈（英格丽德王后，1910-2000）一起制作的，上面的图案都和《圣经》有关。它一般不被拿出来展出，是这几天专门为圣诞节而挂出来。这位女士从网上知道了这一信息，就专门来这里看。

It was the first time I heard about antependium. It seems to be something unique to Christianity. According to Wikipedia, an antependium is a decorative piece specifically hanging in the front of a Christian altar, usually of textile, but also metalwork, stone or other material.

这是我第一次听说antependium这个词，看起来似乎是基督教特有的东西。根据维基百科的解释，这是专门挂在基督教祭坛前部的装饰品，一般是纺织品，但也可以是金属制品、石制品或其他材料制品。（因此翻译成“祭坛帷幔”似乎并不准确，或许可翻译为“祭坛前饰”。）

The woman said she had retired and made some textiles as a hobby. She likes embroidery and crochet. I asked whether this antependium is a tapestry because I could not see its structure. She told me it is not a tapestry but an embroidery made with a type of stitch called petit point.

这位女士说，她已经退休了，业余爱好纺织品所以现在自己会在家做些手工，偏好刺绣和钩编。我问她这块帷幔是否为缂织挂毯，因为我看不清它的结构，她说这不是缂织挂毯而是刺绣，用的是一种叫petit point（小点）的针法。

Translated from Danish information on the website of Roskilde Cathedral, the Queen’s Antependium shows 20 different biblical motifs. The majority of the motifs are sewn on four blue ribbons that match the decoration of the altarpiece, and the gold stitches are done by Queen Ingrid. The antependium is sewn from a piece of handwoven fabric made by John Becker (1915-1986), a Danish weaver and designer.

从罗斯基勒大教堂网站上的丹麦语信息翻译可知：这件女王帷幔是在一位丹麦织造者兼设计师，John Becker（1915-1985）一块手织织物的基础上缝制而成，上有20种不同的《圣经》图案，大部分图案绣在四条蓝带上，而这四条蓝带与祭台后的装饰画相衬，其中的金绣均由英格丽德王后完成。

We forgot to ask the woman’s name. After showing us the special antependium, she showed us photos of her crochet dolls that she made for her grandson. I felt so lucky that we met her in the Roskilde Cathedral. If not, I would have missed this special textile without knowing anything about it.

我们忘了问这位女士的名字。她跟我们讲完了这块特别的帷幔后，又展示了她为她孙子做的钩编玩偶的照片。我觉得特别幸运，如果不是遇到她，毫不知情的我就要在罗斯基勒大教堂错过这件特别的纺织品了。

We showed our gratitude and this elegant woman said:” I am very proud of my hometown and all the good stuff here, so, I love to show as much as I can to visitors like you！”

我们表达了感激，而这位优雅的女士说：“我很为我的家乡以及这里所有的好东西而感到骄傲，所以我很乐意，能尽我所能地，向和你们一样的外地人展示这一切！”