Reliquaries in the form of church buildings in european culture

The report is dedicated to the consideration of several reliquaries of the Catholic Church, which are made in the form of different buildings. With their external decoration and features of appearance, these reliquaries can provide enough interesting material for research in various fields. Reliquaries were most often given the form of an oblong building, decorated with ivory and enamel, often with niches in the side walls, which contained the figures of the apostles or saints, with statues of Christ and the Mother of God on the pediments. Since the 11th century, the form and size of the reliquaries of the Roman Catholic Church have changed significantly, becoming more diverse. Medium sizes begin to predominate (up to 50 centimeters). Reliquaries continue to retain the form of an oblong building or pyramid. The precious storages for the relics of the Christian saint or the objects he touched are the most refined and perfect works of medieval art. Several precious reliquaries and portable altars of jewelers from the Middle Ages give evidence of the high level of plastic development in these times. In the "mature" Romanesque era, reliquaries began to be made in the form of a church, which, in addition to the longitudinal main nave, had two side naves and a transverse one, with protruding pilasters, patterned through combed gratings, and a high roof and turrets. The most luxurious reliquaries of that era are found in Rhine places: the reliquaries of the Aachen Chapel, the reliquaries of the Cologne Residence, the shrines of the Hildesheim Cathedral, and others. One of the world-famous Catholic relics is the reliquary (tomb) with the remains of the three biblical Wise men, called the "sarcophagus of the three Wise men".