Dubrovnik Cathedral Treasury (Riznica Katedrale)

The 12th-century Dubrovnik Cathedral in Croatia is home to an extraordinary reliquary museum containing more than 200 ornate gold and silver reliquaries.

The cathedral’s treasury, protected from visitors by a wall of glass, is like a curio cabinet for holy body parts. The beautiful gilded shelving was custom-built for relics of all shapes and sizes, with each bone fragment and mummified remain in its proper place. The reliquaries themselves are shaped like the objects they hold: arm-shaped reliquaries hold arm bones; leg-shaped reliquaries house leg bones; and head-shaped reliquaries hold skull-caps.

Relics of special note include the gold-plated arm, leg, and skull of Saint Blaise; what are said to be baby Jesus’s swaddling clothes (delightfully translated into English as Jesus’s diapers); and a piece of the true Cross.