Exhibition Closing

Schreine und Steine aus St. Pantaleon / Shrines and Stones from St. Pantaleon

Museum Schnütgen, Cologne, Germany

31 May 2023 - 31 January 2024 (Beginning of 2024)

As precious loans from St. Pantaleon, one of Cologne’s twelve large Romanesque churches, the museum is showing the two reliquary shrines of Saints Albinus and Maurinus, as well as three fragments of the stone sculptures from the church’s 11th-century west façade. They are among the oldest examples of post-antique monumental sculpture in Cologne.

The Church of St. Pantaleon is currently undergoing extensive restoration work, which offers the opportunity to view the two magnificent pieces of 12th-century Cologne goldsmithing from there, together with works of the same period from the museum’s own collection.

The shrines were previously essential loans for the special exhibition Magic Rock Crystal. Of course, there is more to discover about them than the sparkling rock crystals on the roof ridges of the house-shaped shrines. Time to take a closer look at them!

Thus, the enamels of the shrine of St. Maurinus now stand in close proximity to those of the Golden Panel from the Church of St. Ursula and a precious book cover, which are attributed to the same Cologne workshop. The blue and gold enamel of the shrine of St. Albinus, on the other hand, is found in the decoration of other medieval shrines, which makes the modular principle of these goldsmith’s works comprehensible.

In addition to the shrines, three fragments of medieval sculptures from the west façade of St. Pantaleon are on display, whose enormous size is unusual for the period in which they were made. Together with various sculptures from the museum’s own collection, these fragments give an impression of the once rich sculptural ornamentation of the Church of St. Pantaleon.

For more information and tickets, visit https://museum-schnuetgen.de/Shrines-and-Stones-from-St-Pantaleon