Glencairn Museum News | Number 10, 2022
Christmas in the Castle, an immersive exhibition with almost 50 Nativities from the Glencairn Museum collection, opened on November 11th at the Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center in New Haven, Connecticut.
Figure 1: The entrance to the Christmas in the Castle exhibition.
The spirit of Glencairn’s Christmas season is alive and well in New Haven, Connecticut, this year.
Because Glencairn Museum is temporarily closed to the public to complete a comprehensive infrastructure replacement and upgrade, we are unable to host World Nativities, our popular annual exhibition of Nativity scenes from around the globe. However, when our friends at the Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center in New Haven, Connecticut, heard about our situation, they stepped in to save the day. In the words of Bethany J. Sheffer, the Center’s curator/registrar, “This year we are very pleased to be able to dedicate an entire exhibition to the crèches of Glencairn.”
Figure 2: The Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center in New Haven, Connecticut.
World Nativities has taken place annually at Glencairn since 2009; similarly, the Pilgrimage Center has hosted their own annual exhibition of Nativities since 2005. The Center’s exhibition this year, which they have titled Christmas in the Castle, includes almost 50 crèches from the Glencairn collection, featured in an immersive environment inspired by the unique architecture of Glencairn.
Since 2015, the Pilgrimage Center has borrowed many Nativities for their annual Christmas exhibition from the Glencairn Museum collection. Likewise, Glencairn has borrowed many Nativities from the Center’s collection. Over the years, the two museums have formed a close and collegial working relationship, with Glencairn’s van—affectionally dubbed the “crèchemobile”—making annual trips back and forth between Bryn Athyn and New Haven.
For Christmas in the Castle, Curator Sheffer and curatorial assistant Tiffany Locke (Figure 3) worked for months to design an exhibition that attempts to recreate the special feeling of Christmastime at Glencairn, when Nativities are on display in the Great Hall and throughout the first floor. According to Sheffer, “I especially enjoyed seeing the castle come to life in our exhibition space. The reproductions of the stained-glass windows came out particularly well. It is exciting to borrow some old favorites as well as a few new ones. I thought it would be great if we borrowed at least one of the original crèches we borrowed in 2015, which is the piece from Austria. I also enjoyed working with sets that have animals that you would not typically see in crèches: the meerkat from South Africa, the yak from Nepal, and the alligators from Louisiana are just a few to mention.”
Figure 3: Curator Bethany J. Sheffer (left) and curatorial assistant Tiffany Locke pose with three stained-glass windows reproduced from Glencairn’s Great Hall.
One of the most prominent features of Glencairn’s Great Hall is a set of six reproductions of stained-glass windows from Chartres Cathedral—crafted in the 1930s in Bryn Athyn, but inspired by the medieval originals. For Christmas in the Castle, all six windows have been recreated photographically and vividly backlit. Glencairn’s granite masonry has also been reproduced for the exhibition, providing a visually striking backdrop for the Nativities (Figure 5). Each of the “stones” in the walls have been individually painted to evoke the different shades of granite in the walls of Glencairn’s Great Hall. Photographic images of several of Glencairn’s medieval sculptures—including a frieze depicting the Adoration of the Magi and a sculpture of the Visitation of Mary with Elizabeth—decorate the walls (Figures 6–7). And an imitation oriental rug provides a colorful pathway across the central room of the exhibition (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Almost 50 Nativities from the Glencairn Museum collection are featured in an immersive environment inspired by the unique architecture of Glencairn.
Figure 5: Glencairn’s granite masonry has been recreated for the exhibition, complete with large Roman arches.
Figure 6: A limestone relief with the Adoration of the Magi, made in 13th-century France, is one of the artworks in Glencairn’s Great Hall reproduced for the exhibition.
Figure 7: One of the artworks in Glencairn’s Great Hall reproduced for the exhibition is a sculpture from 15th-century France depicting the Visitation of Mary with Elizabeth.
Photographs taken during the building of the exhibition provide a behind-the-scenes look at the installation process (Figures 8–10). The Pilgrimage Center’s construction partners at Petra Construction took the conceptual designs developed by the museum staff and made them a reality. Creativity, careful planning, and skillful craftsmanship have all come together to create a truly immersive experience.
Figure 8: Construction begins on the main floor of the exhibition.
Figure 9: Framing the Roman arches, including a portal that connects two rooms of the exhibition.
Figure 10: Building cabinetry to exhibit the Nativities. Each of the “stones” in the walls were individually painted to evoke the different colors of granite in Glencairn’s Great Hall.
As for the dozens of Nativities that provide the main focus of the exhibition space, those who are familiar with Glencairn’s World Nativities exhibition will recognize many of the finest examples from the Glencairn collection. These Nativities, which come from all over the world (Figures 11–12), include several made in and around Bryn Athyn (Figures 14–17). One of the three Nativity scenes made in the 1920s for the Raymond and Mildred Pitcairn family by Bryn Athyn artist Wilfred S. Hyatt was loaned for this exhibition, and provided with its own interpretive wall panel.
Figure 11: A Nativity from Malawi depicts the Holy Family beneath a hut. The family is surrounded by animals native to that country: an African buffalo, a leopard, a lion, a giraffe, an elephant, and a rhinoceros.
Figure 12: This Nativity is from Olot, a city in Catalonia, Spain. It was made from a wood paste by the El Santo Cristo workshop, which operated from 1939 to 1950.
Figure 13: Decorating the wall just beneath the ceiling of the exhibition is a reproduction of the balcony railing in Glencairn’s Great Hall.
Figure 14: This Nativity triptych, made by Christina Orthwein of Bryn Athyn, was influenced by the architecture of Glencairn and the Celtic lettering style found throughout the building.
Figure 15: Bryn Athyn Nativity, made by Navidad Nativities of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, honors the architectural legacy of Raymond Pitcairn, who supervised the design and construction of both Bryn Athyn Cathedral and Glencairn.
Figure 16: Winfred S. Hyatt made three Nativity scenes for the Raymond Pitcairn family during the 1920s. He also made Nativity scenes for Bryn Athyn Cathedral, the Harold Pitcairn family, and President and Mrs. Eisenhower.
Figure 17: Nancy Schnarr-Bruell, a Bryn Athyn artist, created this three-dimensional version of an illustration in The Christ Child, a 1931 children’s book by Maud and Miska Petersham.
On November 12 and 13, members, friends, and staff of Glencairn Museum participated in a bus trip to New Haven for the opening weekend of Christmas in the Castle (Figure 18). The Glencairn group was able to meet Kathryn Cogan, the Pilgrimage Center’s director, and members of their exhibition and interpretive staff. The group also viewed an exhibition in an adjacent gallery, Crèches of the World (Figures 19–21), which features Nativities from the Pilgrimage Center’s own collection. These include examples varying in size from a tiny one in a walnut shell to a Neapolitan Presepio (Nativity scene) with more than 100 large figures.
Figure 18: Members, friends, and staff of Glencairn Museum participated in a bus trip to New Haven for the opening weekend of Christmas in the Castle.
Figure 19: Crèches of the World, a complementary exhibition to Christmas in the Castle, showcases a wide range of Nativities from the collection of the Pilgrimage Center.
Figure 20: Rev. Solomon Keal, a pastor for the Bryn Athyn Church, and his wife Tirah, who works at Glencairn Museum, pose with one of the Nativities in the Crèches of the World exhibition.
Figure 21: The Pilgrimage Center’s large Neapolitan Presepio (Nativity scene) was created by Bottega D’Arte Presepiale Cantone & Costabile in Naples, Italy.
Figure 22: Schools local to New Haven participate in the Christmas Tree Festival at the Pilgrimage Center. This year the theme of the decorations is “Christmas in the Castle” and “Crèches of the World.”
Each year the Pilgrimage Center hosts a Christmas Tree Festival for local schools, whose students make ornaments and decorate their own tree. This year the theme for the trees was “Christmas in the Castle” and “Crèches of the World.” The fifth-grade students from St. Rita School in Hamden made colorful stained-glass windows, angels, and stars, and a Nativity set with Wise Men beneath the tree (Figure 22).
According the Ed Gyllenhaal, who curates the annual World Nativities exhibition at Glencairn together with Kirsten Gyllenhaal, his wife, “Seeing the Pilgrimage Center’s remarkable recreation of Glencairn’s Great Hall as it appears during the Christmas season was a surreal experience. I’ve always admired the Center’s outstanding exhibitions, but with Christmas in the Castle they have truly gone above and beyond. I hope the New Haven community takes advantage of this wonderful opportunity, and that Glencairn’s many admirers in the Philadelphia area will be able to make the trip to New Haven.”
Bethany J. Sheffer, curator of Christmas in the Castle, will present an illustrated talk via Zoom about the exhibition on Tuesday, December 6, 2022. Members of Glencairn Museum’s staff will also be on hand to discuss some of the almost 50 Nativities that will be on loan from the Glencairn collection. This presentation is free; for more information click here or call 267.502.2600.
To plan a visit to see the Christmas in the Castle exhibition in New Haven, Connecticut, see the Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center for information. Hours of operation are Wednesday through Sunday, 10 am to 4 pm. The Center has free admission, and free parking is available to visitors in the lot beneath the building. Amtrak operates a train between Philadelphia and New Haven.
(CEG)
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