BELIEFS and PRACTICES
Around 1200 C.E. during the Gothic period in Europe, the veneration of THIS famous mother surged in popularity.
THE VIRGIN MARY!
THIS contemporary artist, famous for using his artwork to engage with social issues in his communities, made an artwork in 1994 that functioned like a real-life barber shop.
PEPON OSORIO!
This is the term used for a manuscript that features the use of gold and or silver.
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT!
It is in a monastic refectory in THIS CITY that you will find Leonardo Da Vinci's disintegrated Last Supper painting.
MILAN!
It was during this moon-bound mission in July of 1969 that prehistoric paintings of animals were discovered in a cave in Namibia (Africa).
Apollo 11!
Artists of the Medieval Byzantine Empire often used THIS painting medium on wood to create their beloved icons.
ENCAUSTIC!
This winged goddess was the best friend of the ancient Greek goddess Athena.
NIKE!
Only THIS POWERFUL BAMILEKE MAN owns the image of the elephant in his Cameroon kingdom, and is allowed to decide who gets to use it. Good thing that the Kuosi Society has his blessing!
THE FON! (The Bamileke King)
This famous domed sacred space started off as a church, became a mosque in the 15th Century, and finally became a museum in 1935. Oh wait - it became a mosque again in 2020.
HAGIA SOPHIA !
This wizard-like and futuristic contemporary artist liked to engage his audience with electronics, including televisions with rapidly moving images and neon lights.
NAM JUNE-PAIK!
The reliquary of THIS FAMOUS CHRISTIAN SAINT of Conques, France is covered with gold and gemstones, which were gifts from pilgrims of the Medieval era.
SAINTE FOY!
The PARTHENON!
The first and largest chamber of the painted prehistoric cave system in Lascaux, France, famously features (in part) these powerful, horned animals.
BULLS!
Magdalena Abakanowicz didn't have much to make art with in her native Poland when it was under Communist control, so she used this material that was readily available and easy to store, which she continued to use for the majority of her career.
BURLAP!
This interesting and mysterious object was discovered in a royal ancient cemetery in Mesopotamia, and was created using lots of lapis lazuli!
I occasionally dance the world to destruction with my a destructive fire, but don't worry - it allows for rebirth!
SHIVA NATARAJA!
This war and sun god told his peeps to look out for an eagle perched atop a prickly pear - with a snake in its mouth!
Huitzilopochtli!
In this contemporary work, part of an immersive installation called Nirvana, viewers could see the artist floating around a Dead Sea looking environment with symbolic references to the religion or Buddhism.
PURE LAND!
At this sacred Andean site, many golden jewelry items have been discovered, which are believed to have been worn by shamans to make them look as if they were transforming into animals - with whiskers!
CHAVIN DE HUANTAR!
Sitting atop the Aventine Hill in Rome, this church from late antiquity is one of the oldest in Rome.
Santa Sabina!
The AMBUM STONE is thought to have functioned a pestle, so the prehistoric artists who made it chose to use this durable material.
GREYWACKE!
These were originally made by Lenape native artists with porcupine quills, but later after trade with Europeans, they switched to using seed beads.
BANDOLIER BAGS!
German artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was part of this German Expressionist movement of the early 20th Century.
Die Brücke (The Bridge)!
This man's entire life was about climbing the social ladder, and he finally painted his way there with his 1656 powerhouse painting Las Meninas.
Diego Velazquez!
It is believed at this sacred object fell into the lap of Osei Tutu around the year 1800 C.E..
THE GOLDEN STOOL!
The innermost sarcophagus of THIS FAMOUS ANCIENT RULER is made of nearly 230 pounds of solid gold.
KING TUTANKHAMUN! KING TUT.
It is in THIS contested region / country you will find the sacred JOWO RINPOCHE (Lord Precious One), believed to have been made while the Buddha was still alive.
TIBET!
This famous British site was built using basic post and lintel construction, using mortise and tenon joint connections.
STONEHENGE!
The artificial and imported blue used by Hokusai in his Thirty Six Views of Mt. Fuji series was called this former European name.
PRUSSIAN BLUE!
Staff gods wrapped in tapa to protect their mana were a sacred artistic tradition of THIS POLYNESIAN ISLAND CULTURE.
Raratongan! (Raratonga)
For many generations, powerful men with this title commissioned pairs of brass or bronze plaques to document their place in the royal history of the Kingdom of Benin.
THE OBA!
Weary travelers along the silk road would stop at this this colossally magnificent valley sacred sculpture, where they could actually circumambulate his feet.
THE BAMIYAN BUDDHA!
This temple, located in southern Egypt, would immerse the worshipper in a sacred experience that brought them back to the nothingness of the beginning of time.
TEMPLE OF AMUN-RE AT KARNAK!
This East Asian Kingdom created golden crowns that looked trees covered with ripe fruits.
THE SILLA KINGDOM!
This contemporary nation has a simplified image of Angkor Wat, the largest sacred space in the world, in the center of their nation's flag.
CAMBODIA!
During the prehistoric era in what we now call Mexico, the v-shaped bone of a camelid was used to sculpt an image of THIS by a resourceful artist.
A CANINE (DOG)!
Started in 1066 C.E. in this French city, people usually call me a tapestry - but I am actually embroidered!
BAYEUX!
About a quarter century after a pretty big project in the same chapel, this man willingly returned to paint something pretty scary on its altar wall.
Michelangelo!
In order to access the powerful bilongo (or medicine) of THIS type of object, clients had to go see the village nganga who was the only one who could activate it.
POWER FIGURE (N'KISI NKONDI)
This serene and orderly monkly meeting space designed by Brunelleschi can be found in Florence adjacent to the church of Santa Croce.
PAZZI CHAPEL!
In this sacred space, pilgrims can walk the labyrinth embedded into the nave floor, before they move onward to view the sancta camisa.
CHARTRES CATHEDRAL!
This royal mother commissioned one of the most illuminated and expensive moral bibles for her young son Louis IX. Yasssss queen!
Queen Blanche of Castille!
This mandala-shaped Buddhist sacred space can be found in jungles a Java, Indonesia.
BOROBUDUR!
Most prehistoric Chinese JADE CONGS have been found in these.
GRAVES!
Originally the orange-red lipstick part of Oldenburg's 1969 Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks was not made of steel, as we see it today, but instead was created using this technique / material.
INFLATABLE (PLASTIC)!
South Korean contemporary artist Song Su-nam used this traditional east Asian drawing material to create his work Summer Trees.
Ink!
This man was often shown as the center of the world, shining like the sun, or towering over mountains - - contrary to the long established artistic traditions of the country he was from.
CHAIRMAN MAO (MAO ZEDONG)