Among the statues in Bethlehem, King Menyhért, one of the wise men of the Southeast, was banished to a museum because he is too racist from today's point of view.
The statue of King Menyhért, together with the statues of Gáspár and Boldizsár, was created by a local sculptor nearly a hundred years ago. Since then, every Christmas they have been placed in the Bethlehem of Ulm Cathedral in Germany, reports the international news agency V4NA.
The Three Kings are not mentioned in the Bible, according to the Holy Scriptures, when Jesus was born, the wise men from the east visited Mary and the baby lying in the manger. Folk tradition named the wise men of the Southeast the Three Kings, Gáspár, Menyhért and Boldizsár. Among them, Menyhért represents the African continent.
The controversy surrounding the century-old statue of Menyhért in Ulm Cathedral began in October 2020. It was then that the evangelical community of the Ulm Cathedral decided that the statue could no longer appear in the Bethlehem, writes wPolity. They came to the conclusion that the statue emphasizes stereotypes about blacks, the depiction of which is now considered racist. The statue depicts the wise man from the east with thick lips and a headdress on his head.
According to the church community, the figure of the character formed in 1920 can cause pain to black people today.
They added that when the statue is exhibited in a museum, explanatory descriptions can be placed next to it, but this solution does not work in a church building.
As it turned out, together with Menyhért, the other two kings will also be exhibited in the Ulm Museum. At the same time, the exhibition's spokesperson also said that the sculptures may be loaned to the Nuremberg Toy Museum, where an exhibition on racist toys has been on display since July.
Source: 888.hu
