Bust of an Angel. Giotto di Bondone, after 1304. Polychrome mosaic. The Reverenda Fabbrica of Saint Peter, Vatican City State. © Cittá del Vaticano.

You probably have heard the exciting news that the exhibit Vatican Splendors: A Journey through Faith and Art is opening at the Missouri History Museum on May 15, 2010. But did you know that other treasures from the Vatican have been displayed in St. Louis before? In 1904 at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (LPE), or St. Louis World’s Fair, many works of art were featured in the Vatican Exhibit in the Anthropology Building. The Fair’s president, David R. Francis, wrote in his book The Universal Exposition of 1904 about a “very extraordinary collection of mosaics, pronounced the most elaborate ever exhibited in this country.” Religious manuscripts such as a replica of the Codex Vaticanus, the “oldest copy of the Bible in existence”; photos of rooms in the Vatican such as the Sistine Chapel; miniatures; ivories; and frescoes were shown. Possibly the most interesting papers are the letters from popes that seem to prove that the Vikings had adopted Catholicism in Greenland and brought it with them when they discovered America in the year 1000, almost 500 years ahead of Christopher Columbus. These documents were discovered at the Vatican Library in 1902 and were shown to the world for the first time at the St. Louis World’s Fair.

St. Louis mayor Rolla Wells, Frank D. Hershberg, Florence Hayward, Fair president David R. Francis, Archbishop John J. Glennon, and Vatican commissioner Signor Coquitti (l to r) at the opening of the Vatican Exhibit at the 1904 World's Fair. Photograph attributed to Jessie Tarbox Beals, 1904. Missouri History Museum.

Florence Hayward, the only woman on the LPE Board of Commissioners, went to Europe to acquire the items from the Vatican. Then the LPE worked with William E. Curtis in Rome to gather the materials together. In a letter from Curtis dated October 30, 1903, and in the Archives of the Museum, Curtis stated that Pope Pius X insisted that all expenses be paid by the LPE, so that church money would not go to secular purposes. He would not send a cardinal to the Fair as an official representative for the same reason. The letter also states that Curtis would have all display cases and stands made in Rome and shipped to St. Louis for $1,000.

This re-created environment takes visitors onto the scaffolding near the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel to explore how Michelangelo painted his famous frescoes. © 2010 Vatican Splendors.

Father Francis Ehrle was the librarian of the pope and worked to choose materials for exhibit. He said that the pope would not permit many “celebrated” works of art to leave the Vatican.

For the upcoming exhibition, the Vatican is indeed lending many celebrated pieces of art to the History Museum. Works by Michelangelo, Bernini, and Giotto comprise some of the almost 200 pieces. In addition to historic works of art are objects from the Papal Mass, relics of Saints Peter and Paul, historical maps, and uniforms of the Papal Swiss Guard. The exhibition is appearing in only three North American cities, and we are lucky to host it here at the History Museum.

—Lauren Mitchell, Senior Editor

Learn more about the Vatican Splendors exhibition here.