Central Stories

Central Stories

The central part of the ceiling shows nine stories of the Genesis, divided into groups of three, relative to the origin of the universe, of man and of evil. The first three episodes (Separation of Light from Darkness: Genesis 1: 1-5; Creation of the sun, moon and planets: Genesis 1: 11-19; Separation of Land from Sea: Genesis 1: 9-10) dominated by the figure of God, Creator of the Universe, are followed by those of the Creation of Adam (Genesis 1: 26-27) and of Eve (Genesis 2: 18-25), with the figures of man and woman in their nakedness, the symbol of innocence (Genesis 2: 25) which will be lost with Original Sin (Genesis 3: 1-13), shown in the next panel together with the resulting Banishment from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3: 22-24). The last three frescoes (The Sacrifice of Noah: Genesis 8: 15-20, The Flood: Genesis 6: 5-8, 20, The Drunkenness of Noah: Genesis 9: 20-27) show the fall of mankind and its rebirth with Noah, chosen by God as the only man to be saved for repopulating the earth after the Creator had decided to destroy every living creature in it because of human evil.