An American Shrine to Honor the Russian Royal Martyrs

It has been my particular honor to create a magnificent shrine and reliquary for the Russian Royal Martyrs. The shrine was commissioned by an American convert to Orthodoxy as a gift to the Hermitage of the Holy Cross, a Russian Orthodox monastery in West Virginia, USA. It was installed in time to commemorate the centenary…

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Holy Tables with Reliquaries, a Short History

In this overview and the one that will follow I have combined the history of altars (also called holy tables), ciboria and tabernacles because their respective developments are somewhat related. In this first section I will deal with Holy Tables and will focus on ciboria and tabernacles in the second installment.   My interest in…

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A Cloisonné Enamel Reliquary Icon of Saint Vincent of Zaragoza

Editor’s note:  This article continues Aidan Hart’s recent article about a reliquary for Saint Vincent of Zaragoza and details Christabel Anderson’s process for making the cloisonnée icon.   This article contains a background to the history and technique of cloisonné enamel and a description of the processes used in making the cloisonné enamel icon plaque of Saint Vincent…

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Reliquary of St-Vincent of Zaragoza

For many years I had wanted to design some liturgical work involving cloisonné, so I was delighted when Father Andrey Kordochkin of the Russian Orthodox Church of St Mary Magdalene approached me to make a reliquary for St Vincent of Zaragoza. In the cloisonné technique, thin wire is laid onto plate, usually of silver or…

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Carving a Reliquary

There are certain Medieval forms which have always been with me, seeming to affect an almost hypnotic attraction.  The casket reliquary or “chasse” is one of these.  Shaped like a tomb, but also suggesting a basilica church, these reliquaries most probably originate in early insular (Gaelic/Celtic/Pictish/Saxon) art. Most of us know this shape primarily from…

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Medieval Art from Catalonia

The utmost french speaking resource website for Orthodoxy, www.orthodoxie.com, has a very beautiful Flickr stream of the National Museum of Catalonia.  It is an amazing showcase of Western icons, liturgical objects, frescoes and furniture from the Early Middle Ages. When looking at the images, what strikes me the most is the boldness in color bringing about a…

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