MET Heavenly Bodies Exhibition: Vatican Collection

Last weekend, I enjoyed exploring the MET’s Heavenly Bodies Exhibit. The Costume Institute’s 2018 collection is on display in New York City. This is the MET’s largest exhibit to date, so large that it takes place at both the MET 5th Avenue and the MET Cloisters, north of Manhattan. If you’ve never had the chance to explore the Cloisters, this exhibition is a great excuse to make your way up there. I think seeing both spaces is vital to understanding the exhibition as a whole thought.

Access and Admission

The MET is open seven days a week. Sunday–Thursday: 10 am–5:30 pm and Friday and Saturday: 10 am–9 pm. The best way to get to the MET, unless you’re within walking distance, is to take the subway. The subway in New York is super easy to navigate, and since there’s pretty much traffic 24/7, it’s much better than a taxi. The closest stations to the MET are 86 St, 77 St or 81 Street-Museum of Natural History Station.

General admission to the Museum is $25 for adults; $17 for seniors, and $12 for students. Your admission includes all the exhibitions and is valid for three consecutive days at The Met Fifth Avenue, The Met Breuer, and The Met Cloisters. So, if you’re planning on attending both the MET 5th Avenue and the Cloisters, just keep your sticker and receipt, and you won’t have to pay again as long as you go within three days. You can buy your tickets online if you don’t want to wait in line when you get to the Museum, which is recommended during these popular exhibits.

What is Heavenly Bodies?

Heavenly Bodies explores “fashion’s ongoing engagement with the devotional practices and traditions of Catholicism.” It explores the influence that religion has had on the cultural imagination and how it directly impacted the visions of fashion designers. I’ve broken this guide up into three different parts; if you’re interested in reading more about the other parts of the exhibition, click the following links: MET 5th Avenue | MET Cloisters.

Entry to the Museum

When you enter the Museum, you might be tempted to start at the pieces at the Byzantine wing’s entrance. While this might be the most convenient option, I highly recommend viewing The Vestment from the Vatican first. They are located in the Anna Wintour Costume Center. To reach the Anna Wintour Costume Centre, turn right at the entrance, head into the Egyptian wing and head to Gallery 132. Gallery 132 contains a huge sarcophagus from the early third century B.C. From here, head downstairs to the basement of the MET.
Many of these garments on display have never left Vatican City. While the exhibit could be thought to be very challenging for the church, the Vatican was actually very amenable to Bolton’s ideas. Bolton only requested six pieces, but they ended up loaning the MET over 40! The Vatican only requested that their treasures be exhibited in their dedicated space, separate from the fashions. So many of the pieces in the rest of the exhibit could easily be mistaken for real papal robes or religious attire, so I can appreciate even simply as a viewer, making a clear distinction between the two.  Many of the accessories and vestments are hundreds of years old, predating the fashions by centuries. They provide a great reference for modern fashion in the rest of the exhibition.

The Vatican Collection

The first piece you see in the Vatican Collection while walking down the stairs is a stunning Chasuble by  Andre Matisse. Bright white satin and silk with green and gold velvet applique decorate the piece. A Chasuble is a garment worn by a Catholic priest during the celebration of Mass. Matisse designed a series of vestments in various colours, each for a different liturgical season of the year. They were originally made for Pope Pius XII. This is the first draft from Matisse since it was too heavy, and his subsequent versions were much lighter. He gave this original piece to the MoMA for their permanent collection. 
Once you enter the main area, you’ll notice the space is minimal. A few garments are placed in each case and widely spaced out throughout the gallery. Simple grey walls and a minimalist design allow you to focus completely on the details of each object.

The first grouping contains items worn by Pope John Paul II.  It contains his white and gold vestment, which is the traditional papal outfit donned by popes for everyday wear. Featured in the case is also a pair of red slippers designed by Italian cobbler Adriano Stefanelli. The red of the slipper was meant to represent the blood of Christ and other Catholic martyrs, but it wasn’t the symbolism of the colour which caught people’s attention, but their remarkable design. These red slippers instigated a worldwide discussion of the Pope’s fashion. They were originally thought to be made by Prada. Subsequently, the Pope was on the best-dressed list in Vogue’s yearly report. This was perhaps the impetus of the entirety of the exhibition and the discussion around Catholicism and fashion. 

A sparkling gold embroidered cope lies out on a table under glass. The embroidery is so detailed that the design elements pop up from the fabric like a 3D painting. Around the neckline of the cope are four important symbols of the Catholic faith representing the four evangelists:  John as an eagle holding a bible, Matthew with the wings of an angel, Mark the winged lion and Luke the winged bull,
An interesting thing to note is that although the outfits appear very similar to each other, almost like a uniform, in actuality, every PopePope Popetheir own individual style. Some prefer more ornate items like the papal tiaras, while others, like Pope Francis, are interested in a more simple form of dress. It’s a kind of humanistic quality we sometimes forget these holy men have.

Inside a long glass case in the centre of the room are three incredibly detailed Chasubles. The most impressive of the three is the one made for Pope Pius IX. It took 15 women more than 16 years to hand embroider. Every tiny inch of the embroidery tells a story. It centres around the life of Saint Francis of Assisi. You could spend hours looking at this thing and uncover a different hidden secret every minute. My favourite part is the neckline, where you can see the Virgin Mary being welcomed into heaven by saints and angels.

My favourite piece from the collection is the cope of Pius IX from the 1800s. The cope, worn like a cape around the pope’Pope’slders, features a breathtaking depiction of various scenes from the bible. Each character is so lovingly detailed, and the shadows and highlights are painted with needle and thread. The expressions on their faces were so powerful. You can understand why wearing this compelling piece of clothing would make the wearer feel supernatural.

A series of Dalmatics are also on show. A dalmatic is a long-sleeve tunic that clergymen wear during Mass. A series of these dalmatics were created, each for various important moments in the Catholic calendar. These were all created by the Istituto Femminile di Don Nicola Mazza, founded in Verona. The institute taught young girls the skills to create these incredible embroideries, they had three different departments: sericulture, spinning and dyeing, embroidery and one which created artificial flowers. These girls faithfully recreated scenes from the bible on the dalmatics and created stunning botanical designs around the characters.

In a small, black-clad room towards the back are glass cases filled with papal treasures.  Tiaras, rings, crosses, and Crosiers fill the room, and the light reflects on the incredible gemstones that adorn all the pieces. Most of these precious items were given to the Popes as gifts. The most impressive is the three-tiered 19th-century Tiara, which was given to Popeueen Isabelle II of Spain. It contains over 19,000 stones,  18,000 of which are all high-priced diamonds.

In various cases are golden Mitres. A mitre is the traditional type of headpiece worn by certain clergymen in ceremonial settings. The most fascinating one is from 1929, designed for Pius XI, a gift from the prime minister Benito Mussolini. In the centre of the mitre is a silver crucifix, and the symbols of the evangelists Mark and Luke are on the bottom. It almost looks as if it’s a piece of armour, the way the embroidery elements surround the holy symbols.

After viewing the papal vestments, head back upstairs to the Byzantine Galleries, located to the left and right of the grand staircase, after walking into the Great Hall. Every time you look at these modern fashions, think about some of the items you saw in the Vatican collection. How do these papal garments both mirror and inspire? Effect and influence? Even if you’re not religious, looking at these papal vestments is still an awe-inspiring experience.