Using symbolism from the Old Testament and scenes from the death and resurrection of Christ, this window depicts the medieval belief in the concordance of the two testaments. Each New Testament scene of the Passion of Christ is linked with a corresponding picture from the Old Testament, which medieval theologians saw as foretelling the New Testament.
Characters from the Old and New Testaments are cleverly intertwined in the pictures that tell the stories. For example, two spies are seen being sent out by Moses to search for the Promised Land and returning with a bunch of grapes on the end of a stick. This was believed to symbolize Christ hanging on the cross, who we see in the picture below. At the foot of the cross, Adam is kneeling and catches Christ's blood in a chalice.
A popular medieval belief was that the wood used to make the cross came from the Tree of Life that grew in the Garden of Eden. Also, it was believed Adam was buried in Golgotha where Jesus was crucified. The whole window is a tapestry of stories with a myriad of characters and places, woven around the story of the Passion (the betrayal, trial and death of Jesus).
