Ambulatorium

A baroque state room

In the early 18th century, the Ambulatorium was created as a magnificent Baroque room. It served as a place of recreation and houses impressive stucco work by Diego Francesco Carlone, which he completed between 1708 and 1709.

The reliefs depict the sacrifice of Isaac, who was willing to sacrifice his son out of fear of God; Samson fighting the lion, a hero chosen by God from the Israelite tribe of Dan, who fights a lion; Jacob wrestling the angel, an episode from the Old Testament, the brotherly conflict between Jacob and Esau; and the scouts with the dove, a particularly imaginative story from the Old Testament:

In the second year, as Moses wanders through the desert with the Israelites, they reach the desert of Paran. Moses, with God's approval, sends twelve men to scout in the foreign land.

After forty days they return, but with sobering news. The land is inhabited by all-devouring giants. At the same time, milk and honey flow there in abundance. So there would be enough food for the travellers. As proof, the messengers show Moses a fat, well-fed dove.

Only two of the twelve scouts, Joshua and Kalev, are convinced that God would protect them with miracles on their way through the land of the giants, because they firmly believe in God. Many of the others, especially the elders, do not believe in God's miracles and fear the land of the giants.

Since so many doubt God's miracles, God punishes them with a much longer journey to the promised land than planned, ultimately taking forty years. Since the elderly in particular doubted, this punishment is meant to deny them the promised land, as they will die on the way there.

In the niches of the ambulatory are statues of King Solomon and King David, referring to the Messiah expectation and promising the continued existence of the Davidic dynasty.

The ceiling paintings from the same period depict scenes from the Old Testament. In the centre of the ceiling, Elijah is taken up to heaven as the only living saint. In the east is Jacob's dream, of the ladder to heaven, on which one can climb, as on a ladder, to heaven. In the west is Noah's sacrifice of thanksgiving, which he offers to God after the flood. He then proclaims a new age with the rainbow as a symbol of reconciliation between man and God.

On the north side of the room is an image of Samson tying torches to the tails of foxes and thereby destroying the Philistine harvest. Next to it are two other scenes: Gideon choosing the soldiers by drinking at the river, choosing only the vigilant soldiers.

In the well-known story of the Tower of Babel, people try to build a tower up to heaven. God is displeased by the self-importance and spreads confusion of language. Since the people can no longer communicate, they abandon the building of the tower and scatter to the four corners of the earth. This, he says, is the cause of the development of the different languages.

And on the south side, the scene is depicted in which Moses closes the Red Sea over the Pharaoh's army. Two other depictions show Joshua commanding the sun to stand still. Until Joshua and the Israelite army have defeated their enemies, in the course of which Samson slays the Philistines with the jaws of an ass.