Mannheim to host seminal exhibition on papacy

One of Germany’s major museums is preparing the most comprehensive exhibition ever mounted on the papacy, writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt.

The exhibition, at the Mannheim Reiss Engelhorn Museum, will trace the history of the papacy from its beginnings to the Reformation. It is being staged to mark the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation in 2017. The main aim is to recall that “Catholics and Protestants shared a 1,500-year development before the schism at the Reformation”, said Heidelberg historian Bernd Schneidmüller.

Some of the more than 300 exhibits, such as the magnificent garments worn by Pope Nicholas V, have never been exhibited outside Rome. After being shown in Mannheim, the exhibition will be staged at the Vatican.

“We want to depict how a small group of believers became a worldwide institution and how closely Europe’s development was linked with the development of the papacy,” Stefan Weinfurter, an expert on the medieval period, said at the presentation at Mannheim on 28 April.

The exhibition will highlight the role popes played in founding and developing European legal systems. “For centuries, the papal court was the decisive legal authority for all Europe”, recalled Weinfurter.

The exhibits include some of the oldest extant portraits of popes, an early Latin translation of the Bible and the etched wall inscription “Petros eni” (“Peter is here”) which is deemed to be proof of the exact location of St Peter’s grave. Detailed digital reconstructions, including one of the precursor of today’s St Peter’s Basilica, the old St Peter’s, will be displayed. The German Catholic and Protestant Churches are sponsoring the project.