St. Georgios astride his horse bullied the dragon

Stained glass depicting St. George slaying the dragon — Saint George the Dragon Slayer

The walls glowed inside the dimly lit building. Every wall was vividly colored. They were stained glass windows. This is a stained glass museum in Otaru. In a warehouse that once housed soybeans, stained glass windows that were made in England from the late 19th to the early 20th century and actually decorated church windows are displayed.

As they were used to decorate churches, all the stained glass windows on display are based on biblical motifs. Some depict the crucifixion of Christ, while others show Peter holding a large key that one only sees in TV programs. Peter is holding the key to heaven, which Jesus is said to have promised to give in the Gospel of Matthew. There were many other decorations depicting Christian saints, such as James the Great with a scallop shell on his hat.

Among them, the one that caught my attention was a depiction of St. George. As the famous legend goes, St. George on horseback is slaying a dragon. The dragon, the symbol of the emperor in China, becomes a dragon that is vanquished by a knight in Christian culture. This correspondence makes me feel a little uncomfortable. Why did they make the Chinese dragon and the European dragon correspond to each other when they should have been two different things? Is this another form of Orientalism?

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