Tree of Life in St. Catherine Chapel / Strom života v kapli Sv. Kateriny - Kourim (Central Bohemia) - Stone Church Artefacts on Waymarking.com

Depicted eight-column central stone pillar in underground early-Gothic St. Catherine Chapel (kaple Sv. Kateriny) express the parable of Christ about the vine stem and together with from it growing three-beam vault system represents a Tree of Life.

The composition of the chapel represents the oldest known use of the three-beam vault system in Europe. Unique paintings from the beginning of the 15th century (around 1410) were discovered in the chapel in 1999. The vault depicts an angelic choir, where twenty-four angels play a variety of musical instruments (portativ, fiddle, lute, psalter, Czech wing, trumpet, harp, viola, trumpet, flute, bagpipes, bells, drums and triangle). In addition to artistic values, the paintings also represent a unique "catalog" of musical instruments in the High Middle Ages. On the walls are scenes from the life of St. Catherine and the Crucifixion with the mourning Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist. The paintings, which are an example of the best paintings of the so-called "beautiful style" in the Czechia, were restored in the years 2000–2006 by Vlastimil and Tomáš Bergrová. Chapel of St. Catherine's is one of the most important early-Gothic monuments in Europe.