This is a mandala in Ascension Church in the city of Dresden, Germany. It was built in 1901 and has a structure very similar to the Marsh Chapel window.
This photo was taken by Wikimedia commons contributor Schwalbe. I am using it under the GNU Free Documentation License. I have modified the original image to remove some of the distortion.
The mandala reflects the name of the Church by placing an ascending Christ in the very center of the mandala. The basic structure of the mandala is a large central region with Christ surrounded by eight smaller circles. Again, eight is the Christian number for regeneration, and resurrection. This is appropriate to the ascension of Christ.
The eight outer regions are interesting. Instead of containing individual symbols, like we have seen in previous mandalas, the outer circles are used expand the elements of the center circle. They still provide focus and explanation of the theme in the central circle, they are just used differently.
The central focus is the ascension of Christ as described in Acts 1. Note the angels to the left and right of Christ. Their wings and the train of their robes extend out into the surrounding circles.
Below Christ and the angels there are 12 people. Two heads are visible in the left and right circles under the train of the angles’ robes. One other head is just visible under the knees of the left angel in the main circle. Hmmm…12 people? Judas has moved on, and Matthias doesn’t join the group until later in Acts 1, after the Apostles returned to Jerusalem. Who is the twelfth man? My guess is that one of the beardless men is a woman, Mary the mother of Jesus.
Besides the eight circles surrounding Christ, there are a few interesting symbols that re-enforce the theme. The nimbus behind Christ indicates His divinity. Christ also holds a banner which extends into the top most circle symbolizing victory. The same banner is often seen with the Lamb of God symbol. The eight pointed stars in many of the outer circles continue the resurrection theme. Finally note the circle of flames at the outer periphery of the main circle. This suggests the sun and refers to the prophecy of Jesus as the Sun of Righteousness in Malachi 4:2.
One more thing. At the bottom center of the main circle there are two elongated light-yellow shapes embedded in the vegetation. My guess is that these are the feet of Judas, i.e., he is lying face down and all we see are his feet. This seems a bit irreverent. Let me know if you have a better suggestion.
In Part 7 we move onto Belgium.