CLEVELAND—Traveling to Italy might be a stretch in this summer of rising gasoline prices, but those willing to make the shorter trip to Cleveland can still get a glimpse inside Vatican City.

“Vatican Splendors from Saint Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican Museums and the Swiss Guard,” one of the largest collections from the Vatican ever to tour North America, opened in May and runs through Sept. 7 at the Western Reserve Historical Society. Cleveland is the second of three U.S. cities to host the traveling exhibition, which explores 2,000 years of Christianity with some 200 rare pieces of art, historical objects and documents.

The “Vatican Splendors” exhibit includes a reliquary that holds fragments of the bones of St. Peter. (Chronicle photo by Laurie Stevens)

“The way the objects are arranged, it creates a story,” notes Christian Brother Charles Hilken, a professor and chair of the department of history at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, Calif., who served as a historical consultant to the exhibition.

Along with recounting the history of the Christian church in Rome and the papacy, Brother Hilken says, “Vatican Splendors” is arranged to explain the office of the papacy and the role the pope plays in the church and the world. Many of the artifacts and objects in the exhibit have never been outside Vatican City, and Brother Hilken adds most of the pieces are not normally on view to the public.

“I’m thinking of everything that you see in there, and almost everything is kept behind closed doors in one of the many collections of the Vatican or of the papal palace,” he explains. “That’s the thing that makes it unique.”

The first gallery of the exhibit focuses on the foundations of the church and includes a reliquary that holds fragments of the bones of St. Peter and a reproduction of the monument marking St. Peter’s tomb. Also on display is the Mandylion of Edessa, a third- to fifth-century image painted on linen that is considered to be one of the oldest known representations of Jesus in Rome.

Brother Hilken says the image is meant to represent what Jesus actually looked like, and he notes the miraculous story involved in its making.

Legend has it that in Jesus’ lifetime, the king of Edessa, located in modern-day Turkey, fell ill and sent an emissary to Jerusalem to find the holy man named Jesus. The emissary was told to make an image of Jesus to bring back, but instead Jesus washed His face, dried it on a cloth and gave it to the emissary. When he opened it before the king, the face of Christ was imprinted on it and the king was healed.

The icon became a sacred relic, and for years the Mandylion was displayed for the devotion of pilgrims who visited Rome during jubilee years.

Visitors also learn about the construction of the original St. Peter’s Basilica by Roman Emperor Constantine through a collection of architectural drawings, paintings and castings. This gallery includes a colorful mosaic attributed to the 14th century painter, Giotto.

“Vatican Splendors” marks the 500th anniversary of the Renaissance St. Peter’s Basilica, the Papal Swiss Guard and the Vatican Museums, and as such it has special rooms devoted to the history behind each institution.

Visitors can see uniforms, armor and weapons from the Swiss Guard, and walk through a recreation of Michelangelo’s workspace on scaffolding near the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The compass and some of the tools used by the artist are on display, along with drawings and signed documents by some of the famous architects of the basilica.

As the last galleries focus more closely on the papacy itself, papal succession is explained with objects that were used in the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. These include a beautiful silver and gilt bronze urn and gilt bronze paten used for voting, a voting ballot, a white smoke cartridge used for announcing the election and the papal vestments created for the new pope.

Galleries also include liturgical objects used by the popes, like the miter of Pope Paul VI and the jeweled table cross of Pope Leo XIII, and explore church involvement in the missions and the popes’ dialogues with other religions and with the world.

The final gallery of “Vatican Splendors” tells the stories of some of the most notable of the 265 men who have served as pope, giving special emphasis to Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. Objects from Pope John Paul include his pastoral staff and a poem he wrote to the Virgin Mary; and items on display from Pope Benedict include his chasuble, miter and “Fisherman’s Ring.”

Departing visitors are invited to touch a bronze cast of the hand of Pope John Paul II that was created in 2002. Msgr. Roberto Zagnoli, curator of the Vatican Museums who began developing the exhibit about seven years ago, says Pope John Paul wanted to greet everyone in the U.S. with the cast.

“He said that he wanted it specifically because he wanted people to be able to touch it as a symbol of connection with everybody that would see the exhibit,” Msgr. Zagnoli adds.

“Vatican Splendors” includes objects from the Vatican Museums, the Office of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the Papal Swiss Guard, Apostolic Floreria, the Reverenda Fabbrica of Saint Peter and private collections. The Ohio chapter of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums, an international organization dedicated to the preservation and conservation of the collection, sponsored the exhibit locally.

Father Mark Haydu of the Legionaries of Christ, a native of Akron, Ohio, who serves as international director of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums, notes the important sense of history Catholics might take away from the exhibit.

“It gives a kind of security to our faith,” explains Fr. Haydu. “It’s not just a nice story, it’s not something made up, but it’s actually rooted in history.” 

The Western Reserve Historical Society is located at 10825 East Blvd. in Cleveland. Advance ticket purchases are recommended; call 1-888-5VATICAN or visit www.vaticansplendors.com. Tickets are $20 for adults, $18 for seniors and $14 for children ages 6-12. For directions to the Western Reserve Historical Society, visit www.wrhs.org. Learn how to win tickets from the Chronicle here.