The Hell

Nowhere is as closely associated with the Devil as Hell. At first an abstract concept, vague and intangible, notions of Hell became increasingly concrete over time.

The start of European expansion in the fifteenth century prompted the desire to systematically record and organise information about the world. This included seeking to locate Hell, too, in real-life landscapes.

Dante Alighieri, in the fourteenth century, had already painted an impressive picture of what awaited sinners in Hell in his famous Divine Comedy. According to Dante, after death, sinners find themselves in a vast, funnel-shaped underground cavity. There they are led downwards by demons to the various circles of Hell, to suffer their torments.

The representations of Hell, and the Hellmouth that followed, testify to the unbridled imagination of earlier societies when it came to the afterlife and the punishments it held in store. Hell was always more than simply a place of fear – it was a mirror of society. A space for questions about guilt, justice, and redemption.