Tower Reliquary with Eight Apostles and the Symbols of the Four Evangelists
Inscriptions identify eight of Jesus’ apostles: Simon, Philip, Matthew, Andrew, Peter, John, James, and Paul. A large number of relics, often in the form of bone or textile fragments associated with a holy figure, were housed in such containers. In the 1200s, the city of Cologne became the primary center in Germany for the production of bone caskets made in a variety of shapes.
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