Glencairn Museum hosts Medieval Festival Oct. 25

This Sunday, October 25, bring your family and friends to experience the arts and culture of the Middle Ages uniquely interpreted by skilled professionals known for their knowledge and craftsmanship. Glencairn Museum presents its annual Medieval Festival from 1:00 to 5:00pm at the Bryn Athyn ”castle” just off Second Street Pike/Huntingdon Pike.

Visitors of all ages are invited to watch and learn about—and sometimes try their hand at—a range of guild-level skills and practical experiences that were integral to European life in the 5th through 15th centuries: creating stained glass windows, illuminating manuscripts, playing period musical instruments, going on religious pilgrimage, wielding medieval weaponry, fabric making and Gutenberg-style printing.

This is the only time of the year to experience this selection of artisan-level crafts at Glencairn. The galleries and grounds are also open for self-guided and cell-phone audio tours and the Castle Café offers a break for refreshment.

Admission: $10 adults, $8 seniors 65+ and students with ID. Free for Basic & Gold members and children 3 and under. Come in medieval costume to win a prize. 267.502.2990 or www.GlencairnMuseum.org for details. Glencairn Museum: 1001 Cathedral Road, Bryn Athyn PA 19009.

Please note: At this event the elevator stops at the 1st floor and the Tower only. Please use the stairs while exploring Glencairn Museum’s galleries on all other floors. No wheelchairs beyond the first floor. No backpack-style baby carriers. Photography for private use is permitted. No flash, tripods, selfie sticks or videography.

Stained glass
J. Kenneth Leap, nationally recognized scholar-professional artisan, and his apprentices demonstrate cutting, painting, leading and assembling stained glass windows by hand using the tools and techniques that created the most famous windows of Europe as well as those that grace Bryn Athyn Cathedral and Glencairn’s Great Hall and its chapel. Made possible through Glencairn’s relationship with Bryn Athyn College, where Leap teaches two courses this fall on guild stained glass.

Illuminated manuscripts
Susan Kelly vonMedicus, world-renowned artist and teacher, demonstrates “the visual expression of…spiritual longings, questions and mysteries” using traditional natural materials: inks, egg tempera, gold leaf, sheepskin vellum. Visitors can “illuminate” a “manuscript” of their own during the event using contemporary materials.

Musical Instruments
Come and be entertained by Glencairn’s minstrel for the day, Paul Butler, as he plays a variety of replica medieval instruments—some of which he made—and sings songs of the era. He talks about such tools of the minstrel’s trade as the citole, rebec, medieval viol, lyres and pochette, and explains where and when they were played.

Pilgrimage
Get a sense for what is it like to go on pilgrimage by joining history students and the Museum’s education interns from Bryn Athyn College as they explore the route of Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage in Spain and the art, stories, shrines, prayers and penance along the way. Visitors learn not only about this pilgrimage but also about pilgrimages in general and the role they have played through the ages.

Weaponry
Chris Alt, a graduate of Bryn Athyn College, conducted his senior research project on medieval weaponry and how weapons of the period were influenced by religion and spirituality. At the festival, Alt and his fellow enthusiasts explain features of the blades, bows, blunt instruments and siege weapons and demonstrate their use in combat.

Tapestries
As utilitarian as most clothing and household linens may have been during the Middle Ages, there is a rich history attached to the symbols and imagery woven into tapestries and other textiles. Eva Mergen, a skilled seamstress and fabric expert, tells visitors about the importance of medieval tapestries and how their sometimes intricate designs were created, often using only the simplest of tools and an artist’s imagination. Here’s your chance to try spinning wool by hand.

Printing press
Researcher, writer and educator Kirsten Gyllenhaal explains how the Gutenberg printing press, developed in the mid-15th century, changed written communications. She demonstrates on the Museum’s own replica Gutenberg-era press the steps of inking, pressing and pulling of printed materials as well as the parts and accessories that make up the printing press.

Image of Glencairn’s Great Hall, with its guild-quality stained glass windows, credit: Rusty Kennedy