Sancta — Sacred Art Across Cultures

Permanent Collection

Sacred art from the Byzantine, Tibetan Buddhist, Islamic, Hindu, Gothic European, and Yoruba traditions — works created not for gallery walls but for prayer, meditation, and theological instruction. Sancta treats the devotional image as the most demanding art form of all.

Floor plan

Explore by room

3 rooms

Eastern Traditions

Sacred art from the Byzantine, Tibetan Buddhist, and Islamic traditions — works created not for contemplation from a distance but as objects of prayer, meditation, and theological instruction.

3 works

South & West Asia

Miniature painting from the Mughal and Safavid courts — works in which the sacred and the aesthetic are inseparable, and the gold border is both frame and theological statement.

3 works

European & African Sacred

The medieval European altarpiece alongside the Yoruba ori shrine — sacred art as a global practice, the devotional object in radically different cultural registers.

2 works