Trouvé sur le Morbid Anatomy :

On view until May 15th of this year at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, a new exhibition of relics and reliquaries entitled “Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe“

To get a sense of the kinds of treasures that await, check out the Treasures of Heaven “Digital Monograph” (from which these images were drawn) by clicking here.

… ‘Reliquaries proclaimed the special status of their sacred contents to worshipers and pilgrims, and for this reason, were often objects of artistic innovation, expressions of civic and religious identity, and focal points of ritual action. This exhibition will feature 133 metalworks, sculptures, paintings and illuminated manuscripts from Late Antiquity through the Reformation and beyond. It will explore the emergence and transformation of several key types of reliquary, moving from an age in which saintly remains were enshrined within closed containers to an era in which relics were increasingly presented directly to worshipers’ …

… “As early as the second century AD, the relics of Christian saints – including their bones, ashes and other bodily remains – were thought to be more valuable than the most precious gemstones. They were believed to be a conduit for the power of the saints and to provide a direct link between the living faithful and God,” said Martina Bagnoli, Robert and Nancy Hall associate curator of medieval art and exhibition co-curator. “These remains were treated with reverence and often enshrined in containers that used luxurious and precious materials to proclaim the relics’ importance.”

Treasures of Heaven
Feb. 13, 2011 – May 15th, 2011
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland