Number 8, 2012

Focusing on a dramatic moment in a story with tragic consequences, this carved twelfth-century capital from the French region of Aquitaine depicts Cain and Abel’s offerings to God. (09.SP.70)

Number 7, 2012

This ancient Egyptian libation bowl (circa 1350 BC), carved from black granite in the late 18th or early 19th Dynasty, was purchased in 1923. Originally displayed in the entrance hall of Cairnwood, where Raymond and Mildred Pitcairn lived during the first three decades of their marriage, the bowl became an unusual example of “living with art.” In 1927 Raymond wrote to a friend, “I shall try to remember to send your hat down by Preston [the chauffer]. You deposited it in the Egyptian offering bowl last night, where the little black princess was still gazing at it this morning with apparent interest.” The bowl was later moved to Glencairn, where it was installed in a special niche with a large mosaic of a white peacock decorating the wall behind it.

Number 6, 2012

This summer Glencairn Museum welcomes Julia Perratore (pictured in the Great Hall), who has been awarded a Curatorial Fellowship by the University of Pennsylvania. Julia will be working with Glencairn’s curator, Ed Gyllenhaal, on a variety of projects, including an exciting new exhibition this fall. When she is not working at Glencairn, Julia will be finishing up her dissertation on the Romanesque sculpture of Spain. In addition to Glencairn, four other area museums have been chosen to participate in this prestigious summer program: The Barnes Foundation, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Rosenbach Museum & Library, and The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Number 5, 2012

A “Days of Creation” relief sculpture provides the background for a photograph of Raymond and Mildred Pitcairn. Here the Pitcairns admire a handwrought silver bowl presented to them as a Christmas present in 1951 by friends and members of the Bryn Athyn Church.

Number 4, 2012

Ken Leap, noted stained glass artist and Vice President and Education Chair of the American Glass Guild, has been leading workshops at Glencairn and researching the history of the stained glass windows created for Bryn Athyn Cathedral and Glencairn since 2006. During Glencairn Museum’s Sacred Arts Festival this weekend Leap will conduct glass painting workshops using authentic 12th-century techniques. Participants will apply glass pigment to designs adapted from Glencairn’s collection of medieval stained glass. The painted glass panels will then be fired in an ultra-fast kiln. No previous artistic experience is necessary to participate in these workshops.

Number 3, 2012

Raymond Pitcairn (1885–1966) is perhaps best remembered for building Bryn Athyn Cathedral, a renowned New Church place of worship, and Glencairn, a home for his family and art collections. Raymond’s interest in photography is less well known, but his extensive efforts in this medium are treasured by local historians.

Number 2, 2012

Religious people communicate stories that are sacred to them by means of oral tradition, scripture, and myth. In some cultures these stories are brought to life by re-enacting them in rituals that have transformative power. Glencairn Museum’s current exhibition, “Sacred Stories: Scripture, Myth, and Ritual,” presents religious rituals from a variety of cultures and time periods, carried out in order to recreate sacred stories for believers.

Number 1, 2012

On January 16, 1982, Glencairn, the former home of Raymond and Mildred Pitcairn, began a new chapter in its history, opening to the public as Glencairn Museum. In this photograph from the opening event, Margaret Wilde and Judith Smith, teachers from the Academy of the New Church Girls School, study an exhibit of Greek vases.

Number 12, 2011

The ornaments, Christmas village, and Nativity scene beneath this tree were gifted to Glencairn Museum in 2011 by Brother Bob Reinke, a Franciscan friar who is a pastoral associate at St. Ann’s Church in Hoboken, New Jersey. The decorations date from 1910 to 1955. Brother Bob, whose special love of Christmas has earned him the nickname “Brother Christmas,” joined the Brothers of the Poor of St. Francis in 1958. St. Francis is credited with popularizing the tradition of the Nativity scene, famously staging a live Nativity in the woods near Assisi, Italy, in 1223.