A version of The Last Supper with the black Jesus appeared in the British Cathedral

The canvas will be installed on July 4. It reproduces the fresco of the same name by Leonardo da Vinci, created in the XV century.

In St. Albany Cathedral, one of the oldest in England, an updated version of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper fresco in which Jesus Christ is dark-skinned appeared. The NY Post writes this. This is a tribute to US protests and the Black Lives Matter movement.

The author of the fresco with the black Jesus is the British artist Lorna May Wadsworth. The picture was made in 2009. The prototype of Christ was the Jamaican model Tafari Hinds.

Wadsworth said that she portrayed Christ as dark-skinned in order to question the Western myth that Jesus is white, with blond hair and blue eyes.

In 2009, the picture was damaged by an attacker by firing a pneumatic weapon at it.

The decision to install a fresco on the altar of St. Albany Cathedral was initiated by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. “Jesus was not white; he was from the Middle East. It’s important to remember this, ”he wrote on his Twitter account. The post also says that the clergy support the Black Lives Matter movement and want to see a society in which everyone’s dignity is respected.

The abbot of the cathedral said that such an image of The Last Supper made him think about how people were used to seeing Jesus.

“The life of black people is important, so we transformed our Altar of the Chosen into a place for reflection and prayer, putting in the center a picture painted by Lorna,” said the abbot of the cathedral.

“Experts agree that he most likely had features of the Middle East, but for centuries, European artists have traditionally portrayed Christ in their own European image,” he said.

The rector of the cathedral, Jeffrey John, says that the church is not in such a strong position to preach to others racial or any other justice. He also says that our faith teaches us that we are all equally created in the image and likeness of God and that God is the God of justice.