Two Exhibitions Will Celebrate

Christmas At The Knights Of Columbus Museum

NEW HAVEN — This Christmas season, the Knights of Columbus Museum will present two Nativity exhibitions: a fourth international crèche show and a new Connecticut feature, both opening November 21 and both remaining on view until February 1.

The larger exhibition, “Nativities Of Europe: Folk Art to Fine Art,” will feature approximately 90 crèches from across Europe, borrowed from three American collections as well as a vast diorama from Naples, Italy.

Neapolitan crèches, known as presepes, are the world’s benchmark, representing the highest standard of the most skilled artists. Many of the other crèches on display were made by local craftsmen in small villages from the Alps to the newly liberated nations of Eastern Europe. They show an abundance of skill and style. The Connecticut component will feature dioramas crafted by local high school students.

Nativities of Europe features representative crèches from more than two dozen nations, such as Ireland, Germany, Poland, France, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Spain, Portugal, Ukraine, Russia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Hungary. Nearly all of the European crèches bring the birth of Jesus into their region or village, reminding the viewer that the Nativity is seen as a universal event across the world.

Principally from the European collections of Crèche Museum in Ohio, the James L. Goven collection in Virginia and the Rev Timothy Goldrick collection in Massachusetts, the nativities on display represent a broad spectrum of workmanship and national interpretations of the birth of Jesus Christ, including hand-carved figures, miniatures, shadow boxes, marionettes and paper figures ranging from exquisite detail to child-like simplicity.

The large Neapolitan presepe will include nearly 100 figures with highly detailed expressions and attire. The focal point is the Holy Family, while 18th Century everyday life goes on around them, from a bustling tavern to the shepherds out in the fields tending their flocks.

Visitors will enjoy the time required to study and appreciate the vast diorama’s multitude of activities and its magnificent workmanship.

The second exhibition, “Christmas in Connecticut: Nativities in New Haven, Hamden and Middletown,” will feature the craftsmanship of students at two Catholic high schools, undertaking the design and construction of large dioramas that place the birth of Jesus in their respective towns.

Sacred Heart Academy’s Nativity scene will include Hamden’s contemporary landmarks and historic places, with the Holy Family in the middle of a snow-covered diorama.

Middletown’s Xavier High School will take viewers back to the 1930s, placing the birth of Jesus in the middle of this historic river port city, once the state’s busiest. Another Connecticut crèche will depict Christmas in New Haven in 1882, with the Holy Family next to St Mary’s Church, also the birthplace of the Knights of Columbus in that year.

The Knights of Columbus Museum is at 1 State Street in New Haven; telephone 203-865-0400. During the presentation of its holiday exhibitions the museum will be open daily (except Christmas) from 10 am to 5 pm. Admission and parking are  free.