Treasures of heaven
Subtitle: saints, relics, and devotion in medieval Europe
By: edited by Martina Bagnoli ... [et al.].
Contributors: Cleveland Museum of Art; Walters Art Museum (Baltimore, Md.); British Museum
Publisher: Walters Art Museum
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Baltimore
Language: eng
Number of pages: 259
ISBN-13: 9780911886740; 9780300168273
Other titles: Saints, relics, and devotion in medieval Europe
Description: Drawing together an array of treasured objects from collections throughout Europe and the United States, this beautifully illustrated volume examines the medieval cult of relics- the physical remains of holy men and women, and things associated with them. Relics connected Christian faithful with sacred places and people who died as martyrs of their faith. Believed to contain the same power that had animated saints during their lifetime, relics bridged the gap between heaven and earth. To signal their sacred nature, medieval artists fashioned special containers for relics in precious materials and encrusted them with gems. Enshrined in alters of churches and used in the liturgy as well as in public rituals, relics functioned as objects of public and private devotion, carried home from pilgrimages to the Holy Land and sites throughout Europe or worn on the body as protective amulets enclosed in rings or pendants. In essays and catalogue entries, an international group of scholars traces the making of reliquaries from the earliest days of Christianity to the apogee of the practice in the sixteenth century, exploring how medieval artists invented new ways to express the power of sacred remains and the role that relics played in the development of the visual arts in both Eastern Christianity (Byzantium) and Western Christendom. This book also tracks the fate of relics and reliquaries in the wake of the Reformation, anti-clerical movements, and the French Revolution. This book sheds fascinating new light on some 140 extraordinary and rare reliquaries and related objects, including precious metalwork, paintings, sculptures, and illuminated manuscripts, from sources ranging from the Lateran Palace in Rome to European cathedral treasuries and small parish churches. -- from Book Jacket.
Notes: Issued in connection with an exhibition held Oct. 17, 2010-Jan. 17, 2011, the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Feb. 13-May 15, 2011, the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, and June 23-Oct. 9, 2011, the British Museum, London.

Includes bibliographical references and index.