MEV, museu d’art medieval

Museu d’art medieval

MEV

MENU

Itineraries

If you are in the Museum, use this menu to consult works, or follow routes you have created

Buy tickets

Practical information

Visits

With children

Before making the visit, we recommend that you take into account the time available and the different itineraries that we propose and that, according to your interests, choose between the offer of guided tours, activities and exhibitions. Choose your tour with the available apps or the mobile web.

Collection

Search

Itineraries

A magnificent collection of Catalan Romanesque and Gothic painting and sculpture masterpieces, along with outstanding collections of archaeology, goldsmithing, weaving, wrought iron, glass and ceramics. A fund of exceptional value made up of more than 29,000 pieces.

Families and children

Groups

No matter who you are or how old you are, there are many ways to discover what our ancestors were like, what they did, how they lived and what they thought, you can do it online or also in the Museum, where various participatory proposals await you to travel to the past with a vision of present.

Exhibitions

Temporary exhibitions, masterpieces and much more!

Back

Up

Back

Instruments of the Soul

Matter and Spirit in Medieval Catalonia

There is no religion without objects. We tend to think of spirituality as independent of matter, yet reality tells a different story: now as in the past, many objects serve as intermediaries between the everyday and the divine. This idea of mediation, so present in modern communication theory, has in fact been shaped over centuries by religious thought.

Medieval Europe was no exception. Despite its Platonic foundations, which set matter and spirit in opposition, Christianity soon embraced matter as a possible site of divine manifestation. Indeed, especially in the late Middle Ages, this was reflected in the Christian world’s close attention to the properties of materials. This exhibition, jointly curated by the MEV, Museu d’Art Medieval, the Museu de Lleida, the Museu Diocesà i Comarcal de Solsona and the Museu d’Art de Girona, explores various aspects of this phenomenon in the context of medieval Catalonia. From relics to sculpture, painted images to metalwork, parchment to crystal, a range of instruments will reveal the material paths of the soul as it rises from the senses towards transcendence.

EXHIBITION DATES

November 22, 2025 –  February 8, 2026

 

EXHIBITION VENUE

MEV, Museu d’Art Medieval

 

ORGANIZED BY

MEV, Museu d’Art Medieval

Museu de Lleida

Museu Diocesà i Comarcal de Solsona

Museu d’Art de Girona

 

RELATED LINKS

Location

Opening hours and admission fees

 

All exhibitions

Buy tickets

Exposition

1. With All Five Senses 2. The Language of Matter 3. In Body and Soul 4. Windows onto Heaven 5. Living with the Sacred 6. Transcultural Instruments

1. With All Five Senses

The senses are the primary gateways through which the external world enters the inner life of the individual, including in spiritual terms. Today we are captivated by multimedia spectacles, yet we may forget that premodern societies also embraced multisensory experiences. Medieval liturgy appealed to all five senses at once, both to construct a symbolic representation of heaven and to encourage the faithful’s disposition to participate.

Altar candelabrum

Catalonia, circa 1400
Wrought iron
MEV 2298

Wafer Iron

Aragon, 14th–15th centuries
Wrought and engraved iron
From Monzón (Huesca)
MEV 4990

pax

Catalonia or Limoges, 16th century
Painted enamel on copper
MEV 17165

2. The Language of Matter

Beyond the form of objects and the iconography they might support, the very materials from which they were made – and their inherent properties – were also objects of contemplation in medieval art, extending far beyond notions of wealth or luxury. At times, material and image interacted and reinforced one another; in other cases, the gleam of gold, the transparency of glass or the whiteness of alabaster conveyed messages more effectively than images or words.

Gospel book with silver covers

Vic, final quarter of the 14th century
Illuminated parchment; wood; repoussé, chased and enamelled silver
From the Cathedral of Vic
MEV 2189

Lipsanotheca

Catalonia, 11th century
Alabaster
From Sant Pere del Grau (Lluçanès)
MEV 3964

3. In Body and Soul

In Christian theology, the idea of incarnation is central: Christ becomes human in the flesh, which thus becomes a vehicle of God’s presence. This concept has far-reaching consequences – from the belief in real presence in the Eucharist to the Western custom of sculpting images as complements to worship, and to everything that concerns the body: relics as bodily remains, the animation of inanimate forms, and ritual gestures.

Rib reliquary

Limoges (?), mid-13th century
Partially gilded copper (?), engraved and set with gemstone cabochons
MEV 9736

4. Windows onto Heaven

The principal aim of medieval liturgical art was to make the invisible visible, not only through “portraits” of God, the Virgin Mary and the saints, but also as openings through which a supernatural reality could be perceived. The depiction of the human figure using formal conventions, the evocation of episodes with the power to transport the viewer, and the framing of spaces where God was made present were common strategies in sacred art, whether in two or three dimensions.

Christ, Lord of Sorrows and the Arma Christi

Catalonia, between 1506 and 1507
Tempera on wood, gilded
From the Trinity altarpiece of the Cathedral of Manresa (Bages)
MEV 10743

5. Living with the Sacred

Especially in the late Middle Ages, adherence to devotional practices became increasingly visible in private settings. In domestic spaces – particularly among the well-to-do – objects appeared that either miniaturised or evoked liturgical environments. In addition, various portable items (images, caskets, pendants, pilgrimage souvenirs), and even certain elements of interior decoration, continually made the spiritual and devotional dimension present in everyday life.

Altarpiece

Master of Rosselló
Northern Catalonia (?), around 1400
Carved and polychromed wood
MEV 569

Saint John the Baptist

Catalonia, around 1400
Carved ivory, with traces of polychromy and gilding
MEV 3087

6. Transcultural Instruments

Certain objects from distant lands came to be associated with religious functions or proved especially apt for conveying spirituality. A rare glass or metal might be donated by a nobleman to a church for use in worship, or simply incorporated into its treasury of mirabilia. Such items could evoke a significant place through their origin, form or material. While modern notions of interculturality – let alone religious coexistence – cannot be applied, these pieces nonetheless moved between cultures and thus became a kind of meeting point between distant spiritual worlds.

Phial reused as a lipsanotheca

Córdoba, around the year 1000
Glass and wax
From Sant Pere de Casserres (Osona)
MEV 2286

Media

Instruments of the Soul Matter and Spirit in Medieval Catalonia

Activities

Jueves 20 de noviembre a las 19 h

Confesiones religiosas en diálogo

Encuentro

Hasta el 8 de febrero

Exposición Instrumentos del alma. Materia y espíritu en la Cataluña medieval

Exposició temporal
Visitor resources
Visitor resources

BROCHURE AND GALLERY TEXTS

Download the brochure
Gallery texts
Buy tickets