Monza Ampullae

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Monza ampullae form the largest collection of a specific type of Early Medieval pilgrimage ampullae or small flasks designed to hold holy oil from pilgrimage sites in the Holy Land related to the life of Jesus, that were made in Palestine, probably in the fifth to early seventh centuries. They have been in the Treasury of Monza Cathedral north of Milan in Italy since they were donated by Theodelinda, queen of the Lombards, (c. 570-628). Since the great majority of surviving examples of such flasks are those in the Monza group, the term may be used to cover this type of object in general. The second largest group was discovered in a burial at Bobbio Abbey, not far from Monza, and names such as Monza/Bobbio flasks ampullae or flagons are among the many terms by which these objects are described. The few other examples are now scattered across the world; this article deals with the whole group of over fifty known ampullae, wherever located. Examples of comparable ampullae from pilgrimage sites outside the Holy Land have also survived, for example a very similar one from a Syrian site related to Saint Sergius, now in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.