Savonorola’s chair – not constructed for comfort!
The above image shows a traditional Savonarola chair – a simple folding frame with numerous legs which criss-cross each other, creating a chair that could be picked up and carried to the next place where it is needed.
This type of chair is now called a Savonarola Chair after the Italian Renaissance religious zealot Girolamo Savonarola – (1452–1498) a Domenican monk who used this chair when he was taking his message out to those he defined as heathen in Florence
To me it seems strange that it is named after Savonarola – (1452–1498) when examples of this type of chair have been traced back to Egypt and later to Ancient Rome and Greece – some dating back 4,000 years to 2,000 BC.
I decided to check the history of the name as much as the history of the chair but it seems that the name depends on the location – so in Germany a similar design is referred to as a Lutheran chair, and in England we have something called a Glastonbury chair – also not too comfortable.
Much of what they do all have in common is that they are generally not designed for comfort – in fact one website introduces them as the chairs you offer to guests whom you don’t want to stay too long!
As Savonorola’s cell in St Marks Convent in Florence displays his whip, his hair shirt and a celice – maybe it does seem appropriate name – clearly Savonorala was not interested in his personal comfort!
