Treasures Of The Vatican – Vatican Splendors Exhibition

From Tampa Bay Online
By MICHELLE BEARDEN, The Tampa Tribune

How do you guard a museum collection so priceless no one will put a value on it?

Very, very, very carefully. So carefully, no one will talk about it.

“Let’s just say the people in charge know what they’re doing,” said Kathy Oathout, executive director of Florida International Museum, where “Vatican Splendors” opened Saturday. “Obviously the security is going to be at the highest level.”

The exhibit here is the first stop in an exclusive three-city tour. The other stops will be Cleveland and St. Paul, Minn. Each city gets “Vatican Splendors” for three months.

Featuring about 200 rare objects in nine themed galleries, it is considered one of the largest collections of art, documents and historically significant objects from the Vatican ever to tour North America. Some of the artifacts haven’t been outside Vatican City since their acquisition centuries ago.

The collection’s highlights include a reliquary containing fragments of bones of St. Peter (“the rock” upon which the church was built); the Mandylion of Edessa, a third- to fifth-century image on linen considered the oldest known representation of Jesus; personal tools and items that belonged to Michelangelo; a terracotta sculpture by Bernini; a papal tiara of Pope Pius VII made of gold, precious stones, pearls, velvet and silk; and a mosaic of a bust of an angel by 14th century master Giotto.

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The Vatican Splendors Exhibition will be on display at the Florida International Museum in St Petersburg, Florida Feb. 9, 2008 – May 11, 2009

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