The foreign ministry said on Tuesday that the National Palace Museum has signed an agreement with the Holy See at the Vatican to bring 60 artifacts to Taiwan for an exhibition in 2016.
The exhibition is titled “Treasures from Heaven: A Special Exhibition of Artifacts from the Holy See”. The artifacts consist of special robes and objects used by the past 18 popes in significant spiritual services, and include the exceptionally precious and sacred “Mandylion of Edessa”, which is a rectangular cloth imprinted with the image of the face of Jesus.
Foreign ministry official Anna Kao said this is the first time the Vatican loaned this many artifacts for an outside exhibition.
“It is unprecedented in history for the Holy See collection to loan out their treasured artifacts in masses. In the past, they had loaned out one or two for other countries to display, but never 60 artifacts at once. This is a first in its history,” said Kao.
The exhibition will take place from February to May next year. It will be divided into five sections. They together elaborate the close relationship between the Roman Catholic liturgy and the Pope, as well as the history of the church.