The Spiritual Significance of the Defended Portal in world art and architecture, according to AK Coomaraswamy

This lecture will explore the symbols associated with the Gate to the Garden of Paradise, also known as the Defended Portal. It will show how the image and symbolism of The Defended Portal have been depicted by many cultures, for more than 4,000 years.

The ideas, drawings and illustrations of AK Coomaraswarmy will be key reference points. Mrs Henry will show how Tree and Fountain of Immortality, guarded by the cherubim nearest to the Divine Throne are, according to Coomaraswarmy, symbolic configurations of both our Paradisal Origin and our Final Destiny and how the human Heart, situated on the same axis as the Tree, is the gateway to the Spirit.

These symbols, deeply rooted in the worlds’ traditional arts and cultures, give the Defended Portal primordial power. Much more than a merely decorative motif, it serves to represent the very conditions of the soul and state of being required to pass through it, and transmits moral and spiritual teachings that form the base of the world’s great traditions.