These Stations of the Cross are a series of 14 pictures or carvings portraying events in the last week of Jesus’ earthly life from his condemnation by Pontius Pilate to his being placed in the tomb.
There is sometimes a 15th station to be found – that of the empty tomb signifying the Resurrection of Jesus. The images are usually mounted on the inside walls of a church or chapel but may also be erected in such places as an oratory, a cemetery, a corridor of a hospital or religious house or on mountainsides.
The visiting and praying in front of each of the stations and meditating on the Passion of Jesus comes from the practice of early Christian pilgrims who visited the scenes of the events in Jerusalem and walked the traditional route from the supposed location of Pilate’s house to Calvary.
