The Department of Medieval Studies of CEU and OTKA Saints Project cordially invite you to the public lecture of the Saints Colloquia Series by
Robert WIŚNIEWSKI
(University of Warsaw)
And we saw it with our own eyes. The sense of vision and the cult relics in Late Antiquity
Late antique reliquaries served essentially to protect, not to show relics. However, on some occasions the bones of saints were displayed publicly and some reliquaries permitted to see their content. In my paper I will seek to describe diverse forms of the visual contact with relics in the 4th-6th centuries and address the question of what conditioned it. I will also deal with the problem of the visibility of reliquaries and message which they conveyed.
Robert Wiśniewski works at the University of Warsaw. His research is focused on the religious history of Late Antiquity, and specifically on the Christian divination, cult of relics, and western clergy. He is a senior investigator on the project The Cult of Saints from its Origin to c. 700 AD, across the Entire Christian World and also directs the project on The Presbyters in the Late Antique West. This year he is a fellow at the CEU Institute for Advanced Study.