Gouden kruis met relikwie uit de collectie van de Soeurs de Notre-Dame de Namur, opgesteld op een tentoonstelling over religieuze objecten uit de middeleeuwen en renaissance in 1864 in Mechelen 1864

This is a photograph by Joseph Maes, taken in Mechelen in 1864, depicting a golden cross with a reliquary. It was part of an exhibition of religious objects from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, displayed by the Soeurs de Notre-Dame de Namur. The image offers insights into 19th-century attitudes towards religious heritage. Belgium, in the mid-19th century, was deeply Catholic, yet also experiencing the rise of historical societies and museums dedicated to preserving national identity. This exhibition, sponsored by a religious order, reveals how the church engaged with the emerging culture of public display and historical appreciation, attempting to shape the narrative around its own past. Photography itself was a relatively new medium and its use here underscores the desire to document and disseminate knowledge about these sacred objects. To understand this image fully, one could delve into the archives of the Notre-Dame de Namur order or explore the exhibition catalogs of the time, tracing the interplay between religious faith, historical consciousness, and institutional self-representation.