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Brides of Christ and Grooms of the Church: Two Concepts of Liturgical Clothing by Hildegard of Bingen and Arnošt of Pardubice

Glatz Virgin, detail with the Donor Arnošt of Pardubice, Bohemia, c. 1350. Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, inv. no. 1624. Photo: Stephan Kemperdick.

Lecture Leventritt Lecture

Harvard Art Museums
32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA

This event was recorded and is available via the Harvard Art Museums Archives.

In this lecture, Evelin Wetter, curator and conservator at the Abegg-Stiftung, in Riggisberg, Switzerland, an organization focused on the collection, conservation, and study of historical textiles, will examine how garments received in rites de passage changed and shaped identity. Through her discussion of a precious 12th-century nun’s crown as well as of textiles and pictorial and archival sources from 14th-century Prague, Wetter’s lecture will focus on the role of liturgical clothing in ecclesiastical consecration rites.

Acting as an expressive medium of the concept of sponsus (=Christ/bishop) and sponsa (=Mary/ecclesia/virgin) when used in a marriage celebrated on earth, the religious insignia held meaning that went far beyond the idea of a marriage made in Heaven. As a result, such textiles often became important holders of memory for all men and women who dedicated their existence to the church in hope of eternal life.

Co-sponsored by the Standing Committee on Medieval Studies at Harvard, the Department of History of Art and Architecture, and the Harvard Art Museums.

This lecture will take place in Menschel Hall, Lower Level. Please enter the museums via the entrance on Broadway. Doors will open at 5:30pm.

Free admission, but seating is limited. Tickets will be distributed beginning at 5:30pm at the Broadway entrance. One ticket per person.

Complimentary parking available in the Broadway Garage, 7 Felton Street, Cambridge.

Support for the lecture is provided by the M. Victor Leventritt Fund, which was established through the generosity of the wife, children, and friends of the late M. Victor Leventritt, Harvard Class of 1935. The purpose of the fund is to present outstanding scholars of the history and theory of art to the Harvard and Greater Boston communities.