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Installation of the St Baudime reliquary in the Treasures of Heaven exhibition at the British Museum

This reliquary was made between 1146 and 1178 and may once have held a relic

of St Baudime’s blood. The relic would have been held in a cavity at the back of the reliquary but it is no longer contained inside. There is no record of relics being contained inside the reliquary beyond 1871.

St Baudime’s reliquary has a turbulent history – the gemstones which were once studded all over his vestments were likely removed during the French Revolution in the 1790s. The reliquary was also stolen at the beginning of the 20th century by a notorious art thief. It was found soon after by police, apparently languishing in a wine cellar.

We might normally expect this type of reliquary (known as a ‘speaking reliquary’) to contain a skull – as the form of the reliquary would literally speak its contents. However, there is no record of this container ever having held a skull relic, which further adds to the object’s mystery. © Trustees of the British Museum

. Created by British Museum.

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David Alexander
Posted 8 years ago. Direct link to David Alexander's post “I can understand why the ...”
I can understand why the mayor said that this was the first time for this reliquary to have been seen in London, buy why "the last"? Isn't it possible that beautiful items like this might leave their homes regularly for viewing at museums elsewhere, and others like them be brought to the temporarily empty niches for viewing there?
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Video transcript

the hind closed doors at the British Museum there is tension in the air an important arrival is about to take his place in the new exhibition the press are waiting to greet the new star but before this the installation team have a hefty task of getting the delegate object safely in place and ready for the cameras there's always extra tension in the room when you're doing something like this when when you're being observed by people especially if the object that you're handling belongs to them and they're watching your every move it always adds to the tension you know everyone's expecting a lot and there comes a time when everyone stands back and actually take over that's quite a bit you know that's quite responsibility today we've begun the installation process with with the unpacking and placing of the most marvelous object in the exhibition the relic robust of San Bodine the reliquary belongs to the church treasury of wheeler done in india there from sambo deems french home in the event where he is the focus for spiritual travelers the st. arrives in London for the very first time he is accompanied by the marathon next heir who has special responsibility for overseeing his precious charges installation importance and podemos dejar de compañía de alta vario revenge is jean de la vernia orders IAM was emc again company on the sundeck tail in the central detail Domenici the Christian is it Katrice in Indonesia it's been through an awful lot the stones that once bejeweled its front and shoulders were ripped out at the time French Revolution in 1907 it was stolen by two art thieves the brothers Thomas and found ultimately in their wine cellar so it's been through an awful lot of turbulence in a sense i1 g3 released from the confines of his packing case somebody must be carefully checked over by museum staff to ensure that he has completed the journey without damage other hand gesture is very significant because it looks as if he's holding something and certainly documentary evidence suggested at one point he was used to contain a file of the Saints blood and it may be that this gesture indicates that he was holding a little flask that contained the blood moved towards us just an inch or so that lovely and then were there anything the press take full advantage of this one-time opportunity to photograph some boudin receiving his final checks before the last stage of the inoculation being gently lifted into his glass case Lonnie Jesus an attractive is deeper order sawmill visitor annual know somebody muy bien para antia position of an Americana pelletizer non key constituent party be treasured religious an actor/model a capsule wanna burn pelosi pragati fiance amen channel vanilla see that was you community also partly keep liberty physiologist represent al almost at habitat premier la derniere fois now due to spear upon perky blonde but you're British Museum's exceptional you

The British Museum

Course: The British Museum > Unit 4

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Video transcript