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Course: Medieval Europe + Byzantine > Unit 9
Lesson 1: Beginner's guide to Romanesque artA look at modern veneration from the British Museum
An exploration of how veneration is still very much in evidence today -- and not always in expected places. Celebrity bodies, for instance, are revered in the global cultures of the 21st century, similar in many ways to the veneration of holy individuals in medieval Europe.
. Created by British Museum.Want to join the conversation?
Personally, I feel it is a very different motivation that drives veneration of religious artifacts than that which drives obsession with "famous" people. Why is this video trying to link them together, and by what reasoning do they justify it?(19 votes)
Yes, I believe your correct David, but I think they are pointing toward the similarity's between famous people some for religious reasons, and some for secular reasons like celebrity. Both groups though for different reasons share many characteristics in common, though your right there are also a list of differences. Hope this helps, T.S.(18 votes)
Do the relics of the saints contain actual body parts and bones from actual saints? How do they know that it's in there or real, and how did the body parts get inside the relics?(4 votes)
the things in the boxes are said to be bones or other pieces of holy people from the past. They may, indeed, be that. But things are often not what they are said to be. At the time of the reformation there were enough scraps of the true cross to build a house, and enough nails from the true cross to make Jesus into a pincushion. Near where I live in Taiwan there's a special pavillion at a large Buddhist center which houses a tooth from Sekyamoni. Is it really his tooth? Doesn't matter. people are drawn to view it, to consider their own lives in relationship to the stories of the life of the Buddha, and, perhaps, to reform.(6 votes)
Why do they keep kissing the consecrated ring? Do they still do that until now? Remember it is pandemic and you can not have direct contact with the things there in the museum.(3 votes)- In times of pandemic, such as the flu in 1918 and Covid in 2020, adjustments are made. Ancient practice is a strong thing, and habits are hard to break. If no transmission of disease has been traced to an ancient practice, though it may seem dirty to us now, it may be near to harmless in actuality.(2 votes)
Why is this clip in this playlist? It seems very disrespectful and arrogant to compare holy objects which have been stolen by the British as equal to wax models of the Beckhams. Shame on you Khan Academy, I expected better.(3 votes)
It does seem kinda weird at first glance, to compare holy relics to celebrities, but there are people who worship the famous or hope to being more like them. We see odd, 'special news' articles all the time about people doing strange, sometimes even worrisome things in the name of celebrities. Tattooing their names on their foreheads, spending thousands of dollars on ebay for a used tissue, having extensive plastic surgery to look just like them. It's not necessarily religion in the organized sense, but a cultish sort of fixation, to me. You see it a lot in America (where I live).
I get what they're trying to say when they compare the two.(2 votes)- All religions start as cults. I suppose what makes them religions depends on the number of believers.(2 votes)
Video transcript
the most important and potent relics the most efficacious often take us directly back to the scene of original sacrifice of Jesus of Mary and of the martyrs and they're often body parts we find that a little bit grisly in gruesome now and in fact the exhibition really concentrates on the gorgeous shrines and relic ways in which they have been concealed these body parts the contemporary relevance of relics was demonstrated most powerfully in this very space during the installation of the exhibition when the Bishop of the Georgian community in London invited several Georgian nuns into the space for a prayer service this in a ways is a very important development because it shows really that an object even in a secular environment like a museum can still have religious significance for certain community it's to do with bridging time you reach the original make a connection crosstown to the fountain of grace which is that person who in the case of Jesus died for our sins in the case of the Martins testified to that Redemption I am so moved and touched I don't think I'm able to talk properly this is st. Catherine is so important to Georgia it's one of the most important things the past keeps retreating so then you need newer generations of saints and witnesses to come forward and give a new archaeological layer that is closer to us and so we have you know modern Saints we have Joan of Arc we have terrorism Vizu the relics of Santa Eze have been circulated around the world in this amazing architectural shrine since 1997 which is the hundredth anniversary of her death this desire to be close to the saint to to feel a physical proximity to the Saints bones is an abiding characteristic relic veneration and something which persists to the present day from its inception in the Middle Ages relics began to be part of a different kind of story and they moved in the 18th century they moved into the popular secular sphere and you got the first waxworks rose and that period is crucial in what has happened to the idea of the relic in contemporary culture because that period saw the secularization of a lot of religious ritual the guillotine that madame tussauds brought to london for her waxworks exhibition was sold to her by the executioner so he said and it is meant to be the blade that fell on the neck of the Queen Marie Antoinette who is also in effigy in Madame Tussauds that guillotine blade has been used by the contemporary artist cornelia parker cornelia parker is one of the inspired contemporary artists who has revisited and reworked these structures of the imagination that invest objects with far greater meaning than they would carry without the associations that they have acquired over time people will go to look for instance you know at the ropes that were worn by kings queens celebrities these things decked out on the effigies at Madame Tussauds it's not such a great remove from the medieval experience at all really we are going to have this thirst for celebrity this desire to be close to the famous the charisma the way they've been charmed in the way objects that have touched them have being charmed its part in central to our relationship to history to memory and to the things that matter