Gipsbeeld van de Heilige Barbara

This plaster figure (unknown artist) is 40 cm high. It shows St. Barbara, the patroness of miners, with typical attributes such as the tower and the golden palm branch (see annotations). According to the legend, Barbara was a virgin and martyr from Heliopolis. Her pagan father Dioscorus kept the beautiful woman prisoner in a tower. When he learned that Barbara had secretly converted to Christianity, he was so furious that he denounced her publicly and finally beheaded her with his own sword. Immediately after the murder he was struck by lightning. Therefore, Barbara became the patron saint of people who work with explosives, including miners. The miners and their families trusted in her protection and prayed for a safe return of the men from the mine. In the mining region of Limburg, the veneration of Saint Barbara started after the First World War when it was introduced by foreign workers who came to the Dutch province. The saint's feast day is December 4th. Model created by: Weber, Julia