Tower Reliquary with Eight Apostles and the Symbols of the Four Evangelists

Tower Reliquary with Eight Apostles and the Symbols of the Four Evangelists

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Inscriptions identify eight of Jesus’ apostles: Simon, Philip, Matthew, Andrew, Peter, John, James, and Paul. A large number of relics, often in the form of bone or textile fragments associated with a holy figure, were housed in such containers. In the 1200s, the city of Cologne became the primary center in Germany for the production of bone caskets made in a variety of shapes.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Tower Reliquary with Eight Apostles and the Symbols of the Four EvangelistsTower Reliquary with Eight Apostles and the Symbols of the Four EvangelistsTower Reliquary with Eight Apostles and the Symbols of the Four EvangelistsTower Reliquary with Eight Apostles and the Symbols of the Four EvangelistsTower Reliquary with Eight Apostles and the Symbols of the Four Evangelists

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.