Vatican treasures come to St. Paul

White-gloved handlers unpacked two treasures from the Vatican in a preview Thursday of an exhibit opening next week at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul.

The "Vatican Splendors" show is expected to attract 150,000 people during its three-month run starting Sept. 27. More than 17,000 tickets already have been sold. The closing date has not been set, but it's expected to be Jan. 11.

The show will feature about 200 objects -- ancient relics, liturgical garments, artworks, armor and weapons, artist's tools -- on loan from St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican Museums and other organizations affiliated with the papal state. Highlights include the objects uncrated: the Mandylion of Edessa, a brownish bit of linen bearing a faint likeness of a face believed to represent Christ, and a terra cotta sculpture by Gian Lorenzo Bernini of the prophet Daniel with a lion licking his foot.

The Mandylion (pronounced "man-DAILY-on") is one of the Vatican's most venerable objects, one of three "masterpieces" that "reproduce the face of Christ with the very same features, the very same measures of physiognomy as the Holy Shroud of Turin," said Monsignor Roberto Zagnoli, curator of the Vatican Museums, who spoke in Italian with a translator. The Shroud of Turin, he explained, is traditionally believed to be the cloth that wrapped the body of Jesus and bears an image of his face.

The Mandylion, now glued to a wooden backing, is between 1,500 and 1,700 years old and about the size of a postcard. In the 17th century it was encased in a free-standing frame flanked by sculpted silver angels with gold wings under a bejeweled canopy topped by a pair of cherubs and a golden cross.

The Bernini is a maquette or model for a life-sized marble sculpture in the Santa Maria del Popolo church in Rome. Zagnoli said the model, about 18 inches tall, is "worth much more than the actual statue" because it was made by Bernini himself and reflects the artist's original ideas, whereas artisans in Bernini's workshop would have helped carve the marble version.

Asked what that value would be, he backtracked a bit. "It is not very easy to establish the market value of these two different realities," he said.

What: Historic relics, art, ceremonial garments, armor and weapons, documents and gifts to the pope on loan from the Vatican Museums and organizations affiliated with the papal state.

When: Sept. 27 - (tentatively) Jan. 11.

Where: Minnesota History Center, 345 Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul.

Timed tickets: $20 adults, $17 seniors, $13 children aged 6-12. Free for children 5 and younger with adult ticket purchase. Available at Minnesota History Center box office, Ticketmaster sites or Ticketmaster.com, or by phone at 651-989-5151. For information, call 1-877-282-8422 or go to www.vaticansplendors.com.