Art without bounds at the Museu Episcopal de Vic

An art exhibition opening Saturday at the Museu Episcopal de Vic intends to share an unexpected cultural tie between two places in Europe with quite a distance between them — both physical and cultural.

'North & South. Medieval Art of Norway and Catalonia' focuses on how Catalonia and Norway have uniquely remained two of very few sites in Europe to maintain and preserve cultural artifacts created between the 12th and 14th centuries. 

The two countries’ collections comprise 80% of Europe's medieval altar fronts, and the exhibition displays the similarities between the pieces from their respective countries, ones that may be a bit perplexing to the viewer.

Josep Maria Riba, the director of the Museu Episcopal de Vic said, "What will surprise the visitor is how they will be questioned to see if an image is from Norway or Catalonia. The resemblance is surprising." 

Stylistic and thematic elements that clearly overlap between the roughly 20 pieces selected for the exhibit aim to show the lack of boundaries when it comes to this style of art and period of European history.

A lucky preservation

Studying history doesn't give very precise answers as to why exactly these two regions have been able to preserve this history so well. Experts say it is a complex mixture of geographic and social factors; coastal and rural areas shielding from the elements, economic and artistic continuity for long periods of time, and changes in religion and leadership that allowed for these precious remains to exist today.

The exhibition will run until May 17th, 2020 and standard entry to the museum costs 8€. More information can be found on their website.