The exhibition “Outside the Church: An 11th Century Treasure from the Museum of Cluny” will focus on a portable high altar dated to the early 11th century AD. This item belongs to Museum of Cluny, which specialises in medieval art, traditionally covering the period from about 500 to 1500 AD.

The object is made of wood and porphyry with silver casing and is in parts gilded.

Also, the exhibition will include religious utensils and cloth antimensia (an antimension is the rectangular cloth on the altars that includes a pouch with a sacred relic). The antimensia were necessary when holding the liturgy outside of a church, such as during military campaigns and wars, when leaders or missionaries travelled in areas without churches or on ships.

According to the museum, “In the West, the portable high altars (petrae sacrae) are mainly made of stone, while those in the East are made of cloth or wood and carry symbolic images and inscriptions. Both types carry relics of saints.”

The exhibition is set to open its doors on April 28 till August 3. It is part of a programme for cultural exchanges between the BCM and museums and foundations abroad, commemorating the museum’s centennial anniversary since its founding.

The BCM is collaborating with the Museum of Cluny on a series of shows under the title of “Byzantium and Western Middle Ages”.