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Dr. Beth Harris: We're in Saint John's Hospital in Flanders, in

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the city of Bruges, and we're looking at a reliquary in the shape

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of a chapel. And this is fabulously decorated with paintings by the great

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Northern Renaissance painter, Hans Memling. The shrine tells the story of

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Saint Ursula. Dr. Anna Koopstra: It is made out of wood,

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but it is sculpted and has these beautiful decorations like finials,

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and turrets, and small figures of saints in niches. And then the sides

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are painted. Dr. Harris: And it's hard, I think for us to overstate

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the importance of relics. These objects, these physical pieces of the bodies

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of saints, or even objects that were associated with saints and holy figures

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were venerated, people made pilgrimages to visit them. These were objects

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that mediated between the earthly and the spiritual world and could in a

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very tangible way, help you earn a space in heaven. Dr. Koopstra:

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As we stand here on one of the short sides, we see the

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Virgin with two nuns from the community here in the hospital.

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They are depicted as also standing inside of a church. Now,

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we know that the shrine was intended for this community, but it is interesting

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that it is two nuns who are depicted. Though they may be standing

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for the whole of the community rather than two specific individuals.

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Dr. Harris: We start on one side and we move, and in a way,

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this object could take you on a virtual pilgrimage together with Saint Ursula.

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And Memling is such an amazing painter in terms of creating these illusions

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of reality that we very much feel a part of what we're seeing.

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Dr. Koopstra: So the actual story that we see of Saint Ursula is

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a story about traveling, making a pilgrimage to Rome. The story begins with

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Ursula disembarking her ship. She is traveling accompanied by other female

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virgins, 11,000 it is said, and she's disembarking here in Cologne. And

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we know that because the buildings that we see in the distance,

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one of those is Cologne Cathedral. Dr. Harris: They've set out

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from Brittany. They've sailed along the Rhine, they disembark at Cologne,

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and the figures are so filled with movement. Their ship has docked.

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The figures are unloading goods. We see Saint Ursula beautifully dressed

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in blue and white. She looks very noble, and the entourage is about

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to make its way into the gates of the city. If we look

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really closely, we can see that Ursula appears again in the background.

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Dr. Koopstra: Cologne will also be the place where, upon return,

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she will die, and this is alluded to in the background where we

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see an angel announcing this. Dr. Harris: We're seeing three stops

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on this side in her journey, and in the next one,

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she's disembarking at Basel. And from here, they'll make their way on foot.

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Dr. Koopstra: These scenes are filled with people, and yet they

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are so cleverly devised that our eye immediately picks up on Ursula,

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who is dressed similarly in every scene. And then the journey continues

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on foot and we see people receding into the distance and snowy mountaintops,

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which will be the Alps. Dr. Harris: Ursula and her entourage have

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to travel across the Alps on their way to Rome, which is the

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final destination of their pilgrimage. Ursula is kneeling and being greeted

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by the Pope. Dr. Koopstra: Her tresses are now undone, her hair

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is long, but we recognize her. And then through this open portal, we

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look into the building, where her husband to be

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will be baptized. And that is on the right. We see Ursula attending

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mass, another person confessing. Dr. Harris: So here in this next

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scene, we understand that they've left Rome and they've arrived at Basel,

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and we can see them disembarking. And in the foreground, we see the

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figures again this time leaving Basel in order to head back toward Cologne.

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Memling is an amazing narrator of this story, but also an amazing painter

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of these small details that draw us in. For example, the vestments that

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the Pope is wearing, his tiara, patterns that we see, the small gems,

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the different hats, the texture of the figure's hair. There's so much to

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convince us of that reality. Dr. Koopstra: And still in all of

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that variation, you are able to follow the main storyline, and that is

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the skill of the artist. Dr. Harris: And our eye does immediately

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go to Ursula herself in the foreground, her hands clasped in prayer as

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she continues her pilgrimage. The next two scenes are the climax of the

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story. And here we see terrible violence. And those figures are Huns, they're

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pagans, and these innocent Christian women are being brutally murdered.

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But it's that very martyrdom that ensures their place in heaven.

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Dr. Koopstra: And we see Ursula twice. We see her once still on

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the ship, where she catches the body of her husband to be,

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who's been pierced by a sword. And on the right we see Ursula very

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serene, moments before her death. And there's so much you see here as

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well. Details like, the armor, that is shiny, and it also reflects the

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people standing around. Ursula herself is very serene, like a beacon of

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calm. Dr. Harris: One of the things that's so interesting about

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the legends of Saint Ursula is that the people of Cologne found just

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outside their walls, a large cemetery that dated back to Roman times,

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but which they interpreted as the site of the burial of Ursula and

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the maidens that accompanied her. And so there were so many relics to

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be had, and these relics made their way to all sorts of places

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in Europe that became themselves, sites of pilgrimage like here in Bruges.

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Dr. Koopstra: We know that it was finished in 1489 because in that

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year, on the feast day of Saint Ursula, on the 21st of October,

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in a very solemn ceremony, the relics were taken out of an older

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shrine to this much more ambitious shrine painted by Memling.

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Dr. Harris: So this is an object that is commissioned by the community here

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to honor Ursula's relics and to also, as the patrons, show their devotion

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and their faith. Dr. Koopstra: One of the other things is the roof.

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We see on each side three medallions, here with the virgin,

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Christ and God, the father, the coronation, and then two music making angels.

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But the way that it is painted also references a different material.

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Dr. Harris: And we might have other reliquaries actually made of

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gold with enamel. But here, very simple materials made to look and to

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appear very luxurious. Until I was in front of this, it was hard

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for me to believe that the gold decorative forms that we see on

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the roof weren't real, weren't sculpted, but they are painted. Memling is

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showing us what he can do as a painter. Dr. Koopstra: And so

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opposite the panel with the standing Virgin in the chapel, we see Saint

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Ursula protecting, in her robe, a large group of women. She holds the

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arrow referencing how she died. Dr. Harris: And these beautiful

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jewels in her crown, the clasps of her cloak, the beauty and sumptuousness

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of Ursula in heaven. Here Ursula is being likened to the Virgin Mary.

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Dr. Koopstra: It should also be noted that this object would've

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only come out once a year on the Feast day of Saint Ursula.

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Dr. Harris: So like so much art history, this object has been transformed from

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one that helped people on a spiritual journey to what it is today,

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a work of art, that we can admire and perhaps still have some

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of that sense of it's tremendous spiritual value.