[MR] History Blog: Volto Santo Confirmed as Europe's Oldest Wooden Statue

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

The History Blog's feature for today concerns a wooden statue called the
Volto Santo in the Cathedral Church of Saint Martin in the city of Lucca.
The statue depicts a more-or-less lifesize Christ on an 8-foot high cross,
and is thought to date to the 1st century CE. According to the legend
repeated in a 12th century manuscript, the statue was miraculously brought
to Lucca to be installed in the new cathedral in 782.

As the 950th anniversary of the cathedral is being celebrated, church
authorities allowed four tiny samples of wood and canvas to be taken for
nuclear testing. To everybody's delight the results came back dating the
statue to the 9th century, and possibly as early as the 8th, which
coincides with the statue's arrival in Lucca. It doesn't account for the
legendary 1st century date of its creation. In any case, the Volto Santo di
Lucca is now thought to be the oldest surviving wooden statue in Europe.

The History Blog story is found here:
http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/58936 .

More about the Volto Santo and its legends is at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Face_of_Lucca .

Yours Aye,


Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆