Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Marco Polo & the Magi


In his ‘Book of the Marvels of the World’ (1298) Marco Polo claims to have seen the tombs of the Three Kings in Savah (Persia): “three tombs, very beautiful and very large … The three bodies are still complete with hair and beard”.

In the West, a legend narrates that their relics had been purchased by Queen Helen and deposed in a church of Constantinople.

When the Muslims attacked and conquered Constantinople (modern Istanbul in Turkey), the relics were taken out of the city for safe keeping.  

Bishop Eustorgius of Milan obtained them for his city in 344. They were kept in the basilica of Sant’Eustorgio, until emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, having conquered Milan, had the prestigious relics transferred to Cologne in 1162.

The impressive gothic cathedral in Cologne still keeps the monumental reliquary completed around 1230 in the workshop of Nicholas of Verdun.


In 1904 a few relics were sent back to Milan.

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