Tu β We - Th - Fr β Su - Mo closed. Tu β We, Fr - Sa β Mo closed. Fr, Sa, Su, Mo, Th, 1. Th, Su, 8. Mo, 9. Fr, 1. Tu, We, Fr, 2. In the Middle Ages, attitudes to the human body were rife with contradictions: it was glorified, oppressed, cared for and chastised. The new temporary exhibition includes many items on loan from within and outside Switzerland and looks back on the human body in the Middle Ages from a cultural history perspective. In the age of pursuit of the perfect physique, beauty ideals and selfies, you might think that people have never been as obsessed with the human body as they are today.
Yet, as early as the Middle Ages, the body and its representation played a pivotal role. In the mainly Christian Europe of the 10th to the late 15th centuries, the body was coveted, cared for and glorified, but also martyred, maimed and maltreated.
The image of the human body in the Middle Ages was primarily influenced by the Church. On the one hand, it saw the body as the seat of desire and thus of sin. There are many depictions of desire with moralising undertones. On the other, Christian art revolved around the flayed body of Jesus on the cross and the ideal of the Virgin Mary, together with depictions of martyrs being put to death in various ways.
Their body parts were worshipped by believers as relics, promising to cure the sick, ensure a good harvest, or improve fertility. In the secular world, too, people in the Middle Ages were equally concerned with their bodies. Men and women of the upper classes owned lavishly decorated hand mirrors, powdered their skin, dyed their hair, and doused themselves in fine fragrances.
Sporting activities were also widely practised and seen as a way to promote good health. On holidays and Feast days, men and women in both town and country would take pleasure in running, jumping and dancing. Jousts, shooting competitions and ball games were particularly popular. In most cases, however, the tough living conditions in the Middle Ages took their toll on the bodies of the lower classes. Hard physical labour, malnutrition and disease had serious health implications.
