Sacred vessels and furnishings

More than one hundred items used for services and spiritual labour provide a varied range of concrete information about life at the mediaeval cathedral. Processional crosses made of silver, gold or rock crystal, chalices, patens (plates for the host), small spoons, censers, enamel plates and altar candlesticks added ceremony to the celebration of Mass. Painted wooden angel wings from the first half of the 14th century were once used to depict the divine messengers in liturgical dramas.

A gold-plated bronze hand warmer, kept in the user’s pocket, offers one of the most remarkable and rarest insights into mediaeval monastic life. Only ten others are known to exist worldwide, and it is only in Halberstadt that the original protective cover made of cut leather has been preserved.