Jots & Tittles

Vatican Treasures on Display

Ever since Constantine built for the pope not one but two great basilicas (the Lateran and St. Peter’s), the Vatican has been creating and collecting art, books, buildings, maps, liturgical vessels, vestments and more. Now more than 350 of these papal treasures—most of which have never before left Vatican City—are touring the United States.

The exhibit, which opened at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in March, includes models of Constantine’s churches and of the Sistine Chapel; works by Giotto, Bernini, Canova and Bellini; papal rings, staffs, silk robes and even shoes; chalices; and mosaics.

The exhibit also includes the Mandylion—a relic that the museum is touting as the “oldest known representation of Jesus.”