Ever wondered how to travel with relics? Neither did I until I not started to look into the quite intrigue phenomenon of full-body(!) relics travelling accross the empire. Then, obviously, one cannot simply stuff a complete body in a suitcase, take the next whatever motorised and/or scheduled option to cross the Mediterranean in a day or two.
How to Travel with Relics? A Sort of Practical Guide tackled exactly this sort of obvious yet apparently so far neclected issue. I was looking for very practical soultions for very practical issues such as decay, smell, distance, or not less relevant: how to get a full body relic at the first place… The inspiration came from an essay of Umberto Eco’s Come viaggare con un salmone? (How to travel with a salmon?), which I have read more than a decade ago. Surprisingly, not that much has changed. And ironically, the smell was also for Eco a problem…
I gave this paper at the most amazing “Materializing the Sacred: A Comparative Perspective on Relics in Christian and Islamic Traditions” workshop at the Swedish Institute of Istanbul 17-21. November 2025. Yet another interface for co-produced religions, I would say.