Highlights

Description

Since the early 17th century, pilgrims to Jerusalem could purchase miniatures of buildings as souvenirs of their spiritual journey. Among the most popular of these miniatures was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, whose floor plans and elevations were first published in 1609 in the book of a Franciscan friar. The Franciscans ran workshops in Jerusalem and Bethlehem for processing olive wood and mother-of-pearl. At home, pilgrims could use such models to accurately describe to friends and family not only where they had been and prayed, they also served as proof that they had been there at all and increased the pilgrims' prestige among those back home.