Saint Ursula of Cologne and Four Virgin Martyrs

Saint Ursula of Cologne and Four Virgin Martyrs

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

According to an early medieval legend, Saint Ursula and eleven thousand virgins were massacred by the Huns with arrows at Cologne. The saint originally may have held an arrow and a palm, signifying her martyrdom. A large series of similar figures for sculptural altarpieces was made in Malines in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Saint Ursula of Cologne and Four Virgin MartyrsSaint Ursula of Cologne and Four Virgin MartyrsSaint Ursula of Cologne and Four Virgin MartyrsSaint Ursula of Cologne and Four Virgin MartyrsSaint Ursula of Cologne and Four Virgin Martyrs

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.