Medieval History
Around 828, some Venetian merchants were in Alexandria on a mission. They made their way into the Coptic cathedral where the body of St Mark the Evangelist was preserved. Having somehow squared the custodians, the Italians slit open his shroud and carried the remains to a waiting ship. They covered them with pork to discourage Muslim customs officials from looking too closely, and sailed back to the Lagoon. ?History records no more shameless example of body snatching, nor any,? as John Julius Norwich put it, ?of greater long-term significance.?
In the Middle Ages, the dead were very powerful ? not all of them, but those who had led exceptionally holy lives. This is the subject of a forthcoming exhibition at the British Museum: Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe. It will contain, among other sometimes grisly items, alleged fragments of the True Cross, the foot of St Blaise, the breast milk of the Virgin Mary, and the hair of St John the Evangelist (or at any rate, the sumptuously decorated objects made to house these things).
Click here to read this article from the Daily Telegraph
See also British Museum to host ?Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relic and Devotion in Medieval Europe?
- Grisly Relics, Gorgeous Art
The wonderfully ghoulish "Treasures of Heaven: Saints, relics and devotion in medieval Europe" in the British Museum Round Reading Room is a spaciously installed group of sometimes ravishingly beautiful Christian objects of devotion?sculptural metalwork,...
- Badge Dug Up In Field Is Medieval Treasure
A scrap of twisted silver found a few weeks ago by a metal detector in Lancashire will take its place among masterpieces of medieval art at the British Museum, in an exhibition opening this week of the bejewelled shrines made to hold the relics of saints...
- British Museum To Host ?treasures Of Heaven: Saints, Relic And Devotion In Medieval Europe?
The British Museum?s major summer exhibition explores the spiritual and artistic significance of Christian relics and reliquaries in medieval Europe. Featuring some of the finest sacred treasures of the medieval age, Treasures of Heaven: saints, relics...
- British Museum To Host ?treasures Of Heaven: Saints, Relic And Devotion In Medieval Europe?
The British Museum?s major summer exhibition explores the spiritual and artistic significance of Christian relics and reliquaries in medieval Europe. Featuring some of the finest sacred treasures of the medieval age, Treasures of Heaven: saints, relics...
- Cleveland Museum Of Art Unveils Two Exhibits On Medieval Art This Fall
This fall, the Cleveland Museum of Art will premiere a groundbreaking exhibition examining the role of relics and reliquaries in the development of Christianity and the visual arts. Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics, and Devotion in Medieval Europe...
Medieval History
Treasures of Heaven, Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe, British Museum
Around 828, some Venetian merchants were in Alexandria on a mission. They made their way into the Coptic cathedral where the body of St Mark the Evangelist was preserved. Having somehow squared the custodians, the Italians slit open his shroud and carried the remains to a waiting ship. They covered them with pork to discourage Muslim customs officials from looking too closely, and sailed back to the Lagoon. ?History records no more shameless example of body snatching, nor any,? as John Julius Norwich put it, ?of greater long-term significance.?
In the Middle Ages, the dead were very powerful ? not all of them, but those who had led exceptionally holy lives. This is the subject of a forthcoming exhibition at the British Museum: Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe. It will contain, among other sometimes grisly items, alleged fragments of the True Cross, the foot of St Blaise, the breast milk of the Virgin Mary, and the hair of St John the Evangelist (or at any rate, the sumptuously decorated objects made to house these things).
Click here to read this article from the Daily Telegraph
See also British Museum to host ?Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relic and Devotion in Medieval Europe?
- Grisly Relics, Gorgeous Art
The wonderfully ghoulish "Treasures of Heaven: Saints, relics and devotion in medieval Europe" in the British Museum Round Reading Room is a spaciously installed group of sometimes ravishingly beautiful Christian objects of devotion?sculptural metalwork,...
- Badge Dug Up In Field Is Medieval Treasure
A scrap of twisted silver found a few weeks ago by a metal detector in Lancashire will take its place among masterpieces of medieval art at the British Museum, in an exhibition opening this week of the bejewelled shrines made to hold the relics of saints...
- British Museum To Host ?treasures Of Heaven: Saints, Relic And Devotion In Medieval Europe?
The British Museum?s major summer exhibition explores the spiritual and artistic significance of Christian relics and reliquaries in medieval Europe. Featuring some of the finest sacred treasures of the medieval age, Treasures of Heaven: saints, relics...
- British Museum To Host ?treasures Of Heaven: Saints, Relic And Devotion In Medieval Europe?
The British Museum?s major summer exhibition explores the spiritual and artistic significance of Christian relics and reliquaries in medieval Europe. Featuring some of the finest sacred treasures of the medieval age, Treasures of Heaven: saints, relics...
- Cleveland Museum Of Art Unveils Two Exhibits On Medieval Art This Fall
This fall, the Cleveland Museum of Art will premiere a groundbreaking exhibition examining the role of relics and reliquaries in the development of Christianity and the visual arts. Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics, and Devotion in Medieval Europe...