The first "vele"
Among the very few documents concerning the transparencies that have been preserved, there was until a few years ago (today it is lost) a sheet indicating the order in which the first ten "transparent doors", then rightly called "luminous arches", were to be placed.
Since the owners of the houses are indicated (who had also paid for the execution of the works) and not the streets (nor - much less - the house numbers, then non-existent), it is not easy to understand exactly where they were, even considering the demolitions and new buildings that have taken place in the center of the village.
Due to the extraordinary display of some of the « Trasparenti » in the Art Museum in the spring of 2012, it was possible to display the oldest preserved map (from the late nineteenth century), with an indication of the probable locations.
Much more important is the identification of the iconographic theme, which shows how it was never a Way of the Cross, for the presence of some other subjects, especially dedicated to Mary, and the absence of other fundamentals. Even the order in which they were placed did not respect the chronology of the evangelical episodes.
From the first centenary of 1898, this logical order was no longer respected, justifying the recombinations of the great arches, the erroneous substitutions and the intrusions of new subjects with the need to expand the series, or to replace the "doors" that had disappeared.
This lightness in dealing with the originality of the lenses and their cultured nature, continued until the second centenary, when an attempt was made to remedy in part the damage done, without however eliminating the "new" but inconsistent "doors", now part of the tradition.
Ancient order of the "doors"
In italics the missing works. Door 4 had only one side being placed transversely to the procession. The first title refers to the subject on the outward journey, while the second refers to the subject on the return journey.
Door 1: Poster, The Deposition of the Cross
Door 2: The washing of the feet, Jesus stripped to crucify him
Door 3: Christ's farewell from Mary, Jesus Fallen helped by the Cyrenean
Door 4: Prayer in the Garden
Door 5: The flagellation at the column, The encounter with the Mother
Door 6: The coronation of thorns, The ecce Homo
Door 7: The death sentence, The denial of St. Peter's
Door 8: Jesus consoles weeping women, John warns Mary
Door 9: The Crucifixion, Betrayal and Capture of Christ
Door 10: Jesus placed in the tomb, Jesus wakes the apostles in the garden
Modern order of the "doors"
Also in this case the first title refers to the subject on the outward journey, while the second refers to the subject on the return journey.
Door 1: The Last Supper (copy of Gilardi da Anastasio), The Three Maries (Gilardi da Anastasio)
Door 2: The washing of the feet
Door 3: Pilate and L'ecce Homo
Door 4: (The denial of St. Peter) in the Praetorium, Betrayal and capture of Christ
Door 5: (The death sentence) Jesus from Herod, The Crucifixion
Door 6: The flagellation at the column, The encounter with the Mother
Door 7: The coronation of thorns, Jesus stripped and watered with gall
Door 8: Prayer in the Garden, Veronica (Jesus consoles women)?
Door 9: Mary at the Sepulchre (Cassinari 1979), The Division of Clothing (Cassinari 1979)
Door 10: Entry into Jerusalem (Realini 1969), The Resurrection (Realini 1969)
Door 11: Christ in the Sepulchre (Anastasius 1898), Christ laid (Anastasius 1898)