The Relics of the Magi in Cologne and Milan

In some liturgical books of the Use of Cologne, Germany, today is noted in the calendar as “Obitus tertii regis – the death of the third king”, but it appears that this feast was never in general use within the archdiocese. (It is missing from many books altogether, especially the post-Tridentine editions, and in others is relegated to an appendix.) The kings to which this title refers are the three Magi, whose relics were taken from the basilica of St Eustorgio in Milan in 1162 by the German emperor Frederick Barbarossa, after his conquest of the city. The relics were given to the imperial chancellor for Italy, Rainald von Dassel, who was also archbishop of Cologne, and installed in his see’s cathedral; to this day, Cologne still celebrates the feast of the translation of the relics on July 23rd. The impetus to build the city’s gigantic “new” cathedral (begun in 1248, but not completed until 1880, with a hiatus of over 280 years, from 1560-1842) came in no small part from the desire to build a space that could accommodate the large crowds of pilgrims who came to venerate these relics.

Image from Wikimedia Commons by Raimond Spekking, CC BY-SA 4.0

In 1190, von Dassel’s successor as archbishop, Philip von Heinsberg, commissioned a goldsmith from Verdun named Nicolas to make a new reliquary for the Magi. It was finished after 35 years of work, and is one of the largest medieval reliquaries that survives: more than 3’ 7” by 7’ 2” at the base, just over 5 feet tall, and weighing over 1100 pounds. The core is made of oak, covered over with gold, gilded copper and silver, and decorated with small golden statues, precious stones, gems, cameos and enamels. Over the centuries, it has been kept in various parts of the cathedral; since 1948, it has stood in a display case right behind the high altar.

The reliquary seen from the back, within the ambulatory of the apse.

The front has a plate which can be removed to expose a grill, behind which can be seen the skulls of the three kings. This is done every year on the Epiphany, and on special occasions.

The lower part of the front is divided by highly decorated columns which form an arcade. In the middle sit the Virgin and Child, as the Magi approach from the left. Behind the Magi stands the Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV (1209-18), who donated three golden crowns for the three skulls in 1200. (These were stolen and melted down in 1803.) To the right is shown the Baptism of Christ, and above, Christ in majesty flanked by two angels. Above Him are the archangels Gabriel and Raphael in round medallions; St Michael was replaced by a jewel. (Obviously, the glass case in which the reliquary is kept for security purposes makes for less than optimal photography.) 

On the back are shown on the left the Flagellation of Christ, and on the right, the Crucifixion, with the Virgin Mary and the Apostle John. The prophet between them is labelled as Jeremiah, but the text on his scroll is from Isaiah. Above the prophet is a portrait of Rainald von Dassel, and in the upper section, the personification of the virtue of Patience, flanked by the Milanese martyrs Felix and Nabor, whose putative relics were also brought to Cologne, and formerly kept in this reliquary.

One the lower rows of each long side sit six Prophets with a king in the middle: on the right, David, with Daniel, Joachim, Jeremiah, Obadiah, Jonah and Moses; on the left, Solomon, with Ezekiel, Habakkuk, Aaron, Joel, Nahum and Amos. The arcades between the columns were originally decorated with small busts representing the Virtues; these were subsequently moved to the same position on the upper story, between the seated figures of the Apostles, each group of which has an angel in the middle.

The lower sloping “roof” was originally decorated with medallions of episodes from the life of Christ, and the upper roof with scenes from the Apocalypse, the Last Judgment, and various symbols of the general resurrection. These and many of the other decorative elements were lost when the reliquary was taken out of the cathedral in 1794 and hidden, to save it from the rapacious impiety of the archcriminal Napoleon.

The emperor Otto IV, mentioned above, also donated for the decoration of the reliquary this very intricate cameo, which St Albert the Great, who spent much of his life in Cologne, describes in detail in his treatise On minerals, II, 3, 2. Neither of them, nor any of their contemporaries, could have had any real idea of its origin or age, but they certainly knew it to be very ancient and precious. Although it is difficult to see, the head of a man is represented on the lower back part of the black helmet, so the cameo was very likely understood to be an image of the Three Kings. It was originally fixed to the front, right above the statue of the Virgin and Child. 

In January of 1574, the shrine in which the reliquary was kept was broken into, and several parts of it, including the cameo, were stolen, along with numerous votive offerings. (It was originally more of an oval, measuring 4½” across and a bit more than 6” in height; the lower portion was broken off during the theft.) The thieves were never caught, and the stolen items were recovered. After many vicissitudes, the cameo came into the possession of the Austrian emperors, and is now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, but in the meantime, its provenance from Cologne had been forgotten. It was finally identified in 1952 as the famous missing piece from the reliquary of the Three Kings, described by St Albert. Made of Indian sardonyx, modern research has shown that it was created in or shortly after 278 BC, and represents King Ptolemy II of Egypt and his sister and wife (yes, you read that correctly...) Arsinoe II; it is therefore known as the Ptolemaic Cameo. We have no information about any aspect of its history between its creation and the donation by Otto IV. 

The reliquary was formerly kept behind a grill in the apse of the cathedral, as seen in this image made in 1633. 

In 1668, it was moved into a large stone Baroque structure, and could only be seen through a metal grill. 

The upper section of it was later reused as part of an altar dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

This marble section shows the translation of the relics under archbishop von Dassel.

In 1904, part of the relics were returned to Milan, and installed once again in the basilica of St Eustorgio, by the then-archbishop, Blessed Andrea Ferrari. (The following pictures all come from our Ambrosian expert Nicola de’ Grandi.) 

The new reliquary in Milan.

A picture of the translation of the relics in procession on the cover of a magazine.

The basilica of St Eustorgio in a 19th century painting.

The summit of the belltower is decorated with a star in honor of the Magi.

The original sepulcher of the Magi, a massively heavy ancient Roman sarcophagus, was left behind by Barbarossa.