Imperia Statue- Mockery of the Ecumenical Council
The Imperia Statue in the port of Konstanz appeared in commemoration of the Ecumenical Council, held in this city in the XV century. The stone lady is nine meters high with a massive breast, rotating around its axis every four minutes: she is courtesan Imperia from Balzac's novel "The Fair Imperia". The French classic author ridiculed the Ecumenical Council and its members: the heroes of the novel are women of easy virtue, to whom churchmen went immediately after the meetings.
However, the writer allowed himself historical inaccuracy: courtesan Imperia Cognati, whose image he brought in the story, has never been in Konstanz and died a hundred years after the cathedral. The raised hands of Imperia hold Emperor Sigismund who convened the council and Pope Martin V who was elected during the council-both of them naked. According to the sculptor Peter Lenk, the fate of the whole Christian world is in the hands of a courtesan. Imperia’s pedestal is used to measure the water level.
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