On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Mexico, the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso of Mexico City will host the exhibition “Vatican: de San Pedro a Francisco” from June 20 to October 28. Dos mil años de arte e historia is being organized by the Vatican Museums in collaboration with the Fabbrica di San Pietro, the Vatican Apostolic Library and the Pontifical Sacristy.
More than 180 works from the Vatican collections will arrive in the Mexican capital – among these 30 masterpieces housed in the Pinacoteca del Papa by artists such as Tiziano, Raffaello Sanzio, Veronese, Bernini, Guido Reni, Melozzo da Forlì, and Barocci – to offer the public the opportunity to retrace the origins and traditions of the Church of Rome through the artistic creations that have witnessed devotion and faith along a path of 2,000 years of history.
Among the “treasures” that will disembark in the ancient land of the Aztecs are the triple Pontifical Tiara of Pope Leo XIII and the Lateran Custody that belongs to the Treasury Museum of the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano.
The exhibition, curated jointly by Adele Breda, Pietro Zander, Sandro Barbagallo, and Alessandra Rodolfo, is set up following a thematic path that develops through 6 main groups from the Vatican, from San Pietro to Francesco the first.
The bases of the church are the second, followed by a third joint called The Blood of the Martyrs, with 29 pieces including a marble bust of Emperor Tiberius of the first century, the first representations of the Apostles in oil lamps and some tombstones.
A fourth group of works has as its axis a millenary church from the fourth to the fifteenth century, along with a fifth of the church in modern times, the contemporary church, ending with the church as an apostolic succession.
The exhibition, whose access is free, is also enriched with some masterpieces preserved in museums, universities, and historical Mexican archives.
The Letter of Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus in Syria, to Pope Leo I, year 449, 45th bishop of Rome says: Rome possesses the bodies of Peter and Paul, our common fathers, our lords of faith; their graves illuminate the souls of the faithful. This blessed couple, inspired by God, has risen from the East and has penetrated its rays everywhere, but in the West it has found death, and from the West it illuminates the world. They have given your chair an incomparable glory, they make it the most precious treasure.
It is an exhibition of treasures not to be missed.