The Magi

In 2014, Cologne celebrates the 850th anniversary of the arrival of the Magi, a momentous event that made the cathedral city one of the most popular pilgrimage sites of the Middle Ages. Today, the influence of the Magi on the city remains evident in the crowns that grace its municipal coat of arms and the Shrine of the Magi at the heart of the magnificent Cologne Cathedral.

The Magi: Legend, Art and Cult is published to accompany a major commemorative exhibition at the Museum Schnütgen that traces the legend of the Magi through works of art from the fourth to the sixteenth century, bringing together sculptures, paintings, manuscripts, and other works that interpret the Magi. The works of art that comprise the exhibition come from Italy, Germany, and France, but include many rarely seen works from Cologne that cannot be moved from their fixed positions for liturgical or conservational reasons. These include such works as the wooden doors of St. Mary in the Capitol, the shrine of Nicholas of Verdun, and the altar painting of Stephan Lochner from the former Ratskapelle.