Sacred souvenirs: Pilgrimage badge on display in Opava reveals connections of Czech medieval life

A small badge dating from the fourteenth century has gone on display in the Czech city of Opava. This unassuming object can tell us a great deal about how interconnected the world of a medieval Czech person really was.

Pilgrimage badges were big business in the later Middle Ages – like souvenirs that travellers could buy as proof of their journeys to saints' shrines and other sacred sites. The production of the items boomed in the fourteenth century, as more and more people set off to seek divine help, fulfil promises, or simply see more of the world. One such pilgrim’s badge is now on display in the Municipal House in Opava (Moravian-Silesian Region).

The Municipal House in Opava|Photo: Petra Štrymplová, Czech Radio

No more than a few centimetres in height, this small metal object is evidence of the international connections existing in the pre-modern world. It would have been pinned to a pilgrim’s cloak or hat, and each badge had a design specific to the place where it was produced and sold. Pilgrim’s badges served not only as mementos, but may have also marked the wearer out as a traveller with a holy purpose, deserving respect and protection on the road.

In Opava, archaeologists have so far unearthed three pilgrim’s badges, which is the highest number in Czechia from one place. The one on show in the Municipal House depicts the Biblical characters Adam and Eve, standing by the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. There should also be a snake slithering around the tree, but this detail has been lost to time.

Photo: Petra Štrymplová, Czech Radio

Two of the badges found in Opava came from the ancient city of Aachen. Today in western Germany, Aachen was once the main royal residence of Charlemagne, and was therefore the heart of his massive Frankish Empire. Aachen Cathedral and the opulent Palatine Chapel still attract visitors in the twenty-first century, just as they did in the fourteenth.

Historian Ivana Maloušková of the Opava Culture Organisation described where the badges were found:

“The one of Our Lady of Aachen was actually found on Ostrožná Street, the other on Radniční Street, a former street that actually no longer exists. During World War II, a shopping centre was built there, so it's still in the area. The one with Adam and Eve was found on Holubí Street … How they got there is unknown. It's possible that they fell off, or it was some kind of oversight.”

The three mislaid artefacts recovered from under Opava’s streets are hints of the networks of travel that crossed Europe in the Middle Ages. The Czech lands were connected to far-off pilgrimage sites, like Rome and Assisi in Italy or Santiago de Compostela in Spain. By buying and wearing badges, pilgrims brought a little bit of their sanctity back home with them – including to Opava.