Part 3: Mary and the Man of Steel at the Met

July 28, 2011

The last stop on our field trip of sorts was the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since it was the end of the day, we chose two areas on which to focus our energies: Ancient Egypt and Medieval Sculptures. However, I could not pass up a stroll through the Arms and Armory exhibit. The short detour led me to this “Man of Steel”. The detail and intricacy of the metal design is striking and beautiful, on both the man and horse.

After admiring the armory for a bit, I wandered back into the Medieval Sculpture gallery to relocate my field trip buddy, aka Mom. Along the way, I ran into a friend. Well, at least I consider her to be a friendly soul.

Mary Magdalan, Oak, German, Carved about 1520

Over the past few years, I have become captivated by the historical and spiritual relevance of “The Other Mary”. There is a vast pool of theory, opinion and hypothesis proposing that Mary of Magdala had much more influence within the close circle of Christ’s disciples than the varying denominations of Christianity have typically embraced or promoted as fact. I am reading several texts, both fiction and academic, that explore Mary’s importance at the time of Christ’s death and her role in interpreting His teachings during the precarious infancy of Christianity. It is a fascinating look at a history never mentioned during my years in Catholic School. I plan to keep reading…

To close this series of entries, which has taken longer than the time we actually spent in the city, I wanted to share a few images captured during our “in-between” time that day. I hope to plan another field trip soon…and drastically improve the turn around time from trip date to blog post!