Zaragoza (EFE).- The “wonderful” figure of Pope Luna, in the words of the president of Aragon, Javier Lambán, stars in an exhibition in Zaragoza with the title “Pope Luna: knowledge, diplomacy and power in medieval Europe”, which exhibits from altarpieces, documents and jewelry to the skull of Benedict XIII himself.
The Alma Mater Museum in Zaragoza hosts the exhibition “Pope Luna: Knowledge, Diplomacy and Power in Medieval Europe” to commemorate the 600th anniversary of the death of a “portentous” man and one of the Aragonese with the greatest international projection, according to the President of Aragon, Javier Lambán, who has demanded that the Vatican “rehabilitate” him, as he already formulated to Pope Francis during his visit in 2022.
Intellectual and patron
Together with Lambán, the Archbishop of Zaragoza, Carlos Escribano, and the curators of the exhibition, Germán Navarro Espinach and Pedro Luis Hernando Sebastián, have glossed over the figure of Benedict XIII and his role in history. They have highlighted not only his intellectual facet and the artistic patronage that he carried out, but also his contribution to the resolution of the succession crisis in the Crown of Aragon following the death of Martín the Human without issue.
For the archbishop, this exhibition is a project “worthy of the character of Benedict XIII”, a man for whom Lambán has again demanded his rehabilitation by the Catholic Church. It is also sought by the Aragonese bishops or the towns of Illueca (Zaragoza) and Peñíscola (Castellón), where he was born and died, and that “I wish it would happen” in commemoration of this sixth centenary of his death.
Because without the “portentous” figure of Pope Luna, both from an intellectual, political and religious point of view, it would be impossible to explain the Western Schism, for which he ended up being considered a heretic, nor to understand the history of the church.
His person “causes us to think about moments in the history of Aragon in which the four-barred roamed freely throughout the Mediterranean and part of Europe”, the president has influenced. For Lambán it is obligatory to vindicate the Aragonese intangible heritage and the men and women who are “reference” and have given “luminosity” to his history.
Altarpieces, documents, jewelry, bulls, sculptures… and his skull
The exhibition, which will remain open until July 2, is made up of 36 works, among which there are altarpieces, written documentation, goldsmiths, papal bulls, stone and wood sculptures, graphic works and the skull of Pope Luna himself.
The pieces come from the Archive of the Crown of Aragon, from El Escorial, the Thyssen Museum, the Archbishopric of Zaragoza, the Alma Mater Museum itself, the Diocesan Archive of Valencia, the Capitular of Toledo, the Collegiate Church of Peñíscola or the Cathedral of Gerona. .
It is one of the most important exhibitions that the Government of Aragon will promote this year and reveals the contributions made in recent decades by the most prominent specialists in the study of the figure of Papa Luna.
Navarro has highlighted the title of the exhibition and the union in it of the words “knowledge, diplomacy and power” to refer to a man who was elected Pope of Avignon in 1394 with the name of Benedict XIII and is one of the Aragonese characters of greater international projection in the Middle Ages.
Relations with powerful
The exhibition revolves around two large thematic blocks. The first on the biography of Pedro Martínez de Luna throughout his different stages (formation, cardinal, papal legate, pontiff in Avignon and Peñíscola and succession). This block underlines the connections that he established with the most powerful women and men of his time, from cardinals like Pérez Calvillo to the delegates who elected King Fernando I in Caspe.
In the second part, on his inheritance, the rich material and immaterial legacy generated by the pontiff himself, author of various treatises on various topics, among which the Book of Consolations stands out.
Navarro has highlighted the novels, theaters and recreations carried out around the figure of Papa Luna and has proposed the creation of a European cultural itinerary around him.