Retable of the Pentecost

The National Museum of the Middle Ages has the good fortune to possess one of the most beautiful collections of medieval goldsmithing and enamelling. These objects, made of gold, silver, or copper, often enamelled or embellished with stones, were the treasure of rich abbeys and great princes of the Western world. The famous Guarrazar crowns come from the churches of Toledo, which was the Spanish capital at the time. Seventh-century Visigoth kings and princes had brought them there as offerings. The Altarfront from the beginning of the 11th century, which had been part of the Bale cathedral treausure, was commissioned by emperor Henry II and depicts him with the empress at the feet of Christ. In addition to such masterpieces, the museum conserves an exemplary grouping of dozens of Limoges enamels which illustrate the entire history of this important production.

The museum's ivory collection joins that of the Louvre to make up the two main collections in Paris. It ranges from the end of Antiquity to the end of the Middle Ages. Ivory is a material of animal origin to which medieval man was very attached. Using elephant tusks, medieval artists created large objects, such as the Madonna and Child preserved at this museum, one of the largest in existence today. Besides religious objects, such as small two- or three-part retables and croziers, they did not neglect everyday items, such as chests, mirrors, combs and gravers. Many of these are from the 13th century, but the majority were made in the 14th century. The Lower Empire, the Romanesque period, the imposing productivity of the gothic era, are all well represented by both pieces from popular production and exceptional works of art.