The Stiftsmuseum Xanten, Germany, displays an unusually embroidered maniple (107.5 x 8 cm) dating to the second quarter of the 14th century. The maniple is made of red silk and displays seven scenes of the Passion. All-over embroidered maniples are rare. Usually, they consist of a strip of the same Read more
Nearly a year ago, I visited the small museum of Kloster Kamp and spent a delightful afternoon with a beautifully embroidered antependium. As the embroidery dates to the first half of the 14th century and was probably made in Cologne (the Abbey had property there), it is well-suited for comparison Read more
Last week, I took the train to Burtscheid (Aachen) to revisit the 14th-century goldwork embroidery. I took lots of pictures so I can study the embroidery from the comfort of my home, with the bonus of blowing them up on screen. We already know that the embroideries are no longer Read more
I first discovered the charming 14th-century goldwork embroideries of the former Abbey Church of St. Johann in Burtscheid, near Aachen, in the literature. My first visit a couple of months ago was graciously made possible by the parish sacristan and the Historical Society of Burtscheid. We agreed that these embroideries Read more
In the coming blog posts, we will look at medieval goldwork embroidery produced in Venice, Italy. We are going to start with a beautifully embroidered mitre kept in the Germanisches National Museum in Nuremberg, Germany. The mitre (KG 709) was purchased by the museum from an antiques dealer in Cologne Read more
Late last year, I visited the Domschatz Fritzlar. This is a small museum with several embroidered medieval textiles on display, which you can photograph as long as you don’t use flash. The textiles are extremely well-lit and very close to the display case glass. This means that you can examine them Read more
In a bid to compensate people for high energy prices, Germany offers regional transport tickets for only 9 euros per month during June, July, and August. Apparently, to get commuters out of their cars and into public transport. Good luck to those of us living in rural areas. For example, Read more
We have no contemporary eyewitness accounts of the first Christmas. Still, quite a few of the nativity scenes in the Western world look very much the same. How did that happen? And how does this relate to a group of almost identical embroidered vestments made in Germany in the second Read more