# The tablets of the Law

Moses is traditionally credited as the writer of the first five books of the Bible.

Here, he is depicted presenting one of the two Tablets of the Law. It is possible that numbers were once painted on them, referencing the Ten Commandments given to humanity in a biblical episode recounted in the Book of Genesis.

In the cloister’s iconographic program, many presumed authors of the Old Testament are represented: Ezra, Moses, David, Solomon, Jeremiah, Daniel, Jonah, Job, and others all appear as column statues.

This form carries deep symbolism. Column statues can represent the foundation upon which the Church stands. They serve as an earthly expression of the Heavenly Jerusalem.

A few decades after the construction of the cloister, column statues began to disappear from religious buildings, rendered obsolete by changes in liturgy and biblical interpretation.