“ein rise starc unde grôz”: Geographies and temporalities of salvation in St. Jakob in Kastelaz

A pair of naked giants, male and female, gazing toward the congregation, flank the apse of St. Jakob in Kastelaz (c.1215) in Tramin, South Tyrol. This article argues that, rather than portraying specific giants from a particular text, the mural figures embody the notion of “the gigantic” as it appears in contemporary medieval epics, romances, and travel literature. As such, they confront viewers with a variety of geographies and temporalities of salvation, connecting the Flood and its redemptive implications to a broad spectrum of mythical times, sacred history, and cosmology, as well as to a wide range of locations across the globe, both near and far. Amid this rich cultural web, the giants in the frescoes offer their viewers two types of pictorial vision: a false one, represented by the hybrids struggling in the obliterating deluge; and a true vision of the Majestas Domini and the Apostles, attainable by humanity alone.