The Wonder and Glory of Medieval Portable Shrines
For devoted Christians, a portable shrine provided an immediate and intimate way to connect to a higher power within a monastic space or the privacy...
Marga Patterson 9 December 2025
Medieval Art
Thomas Becket: The Imagery of an Unexpected Saint
A controversial figure, no one among his contemporaries would ever have assumed that Thomas Becket, adviser to King Henry II, and later Archbishop of...
Stephanie Skenyon 9 December 2025
Top 10 Weird Christian Relics
Heads, shoulders, knees, and toes… Saintly toes? The variety of saintly relics really offers it all. I hope all of this is not too morbid for you.
Marta Wiktoria Bryll 8 December 2025
Celebrity Sculptors, Medieval Fraud and Nazi Looting—An Outrageous Story of the Golden Veit Stoss Altarpiece
This is the largest Gothic altarpiece in the world and a national treasure of Poland. Carved over a period of 12 years, the 15th century Veit Stoss...
Candy Bedworth 5 December 2025
The Medieval C-3PO? Golden Madonna of Essen
While her gleaming gold body might remind you of a Star Wars droid, this masterpiece is something far more mysterious and sacred. Beneath layers of...
Jimena Aullet 5 December 2025
Byzantine Icons: Everything You Need to Know
Byzantine icons are more of a prayer object than anything else. Though likened to idolatry, the icons mean more than what can be confined by that...
Rachel Witte 3 December 2025
Ravenna’s Byzantine Treasures: Mosaics in San Vitale
The early medieval church of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy, is most famous for its spectacular mosaics. In a city full of rich, Byzantine-style...
Alexandra Kiely 3 December 2025
All That Glitters: The Sparkling World of Medieval Mosaics
Welcome to the sparkling world of medieval mosaics! Although not as famous as illuminated manuscripts or stained glass, the mosaic was a popular art...
Alexandra Kiely 3 December 2025
Divine Portrayals: Pantocrator Christ Depictions
When the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek, the word Almighty was rendered Pantocrator, from the Greek words pas (all) and kratos (might,...
Ledys Chemin 3 December 2025
Nun, Scientist, Artist, Saint: Meet Hildegard von Bingen
Saint Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), also known as the Sybil of the Rhine, is one of the most renowned figures from the European Middle Ages. She...
Iolanda Munck 14 October 2025
QUIZ: Guess the Catholic Saint
Camilla de Laurentis 4 October 2025
The Unbelievable Story of Killer Rabbits in Medieval Manuscripts
If you’ve ever watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail, you probably remember the scene when the vicious killer bunny (which, as we remember,...
Zuzanna Stańska 24 September 2025
