Burgundian (Migration period) French, Burgundy region

Here the apostle Peter holds the key to heaven. This sculpture originally appeared above a doorway at the third Abbey Church of Saints Peter and Paul at Cluny, France. This was medieval Europe’s most influential monastic community, and Peter was their patron saint.

Peter is carved in a distinctive regional style whose characteristics include deeply drilled eyes, long fingers extending from small palms, and angular drapery folds. Traces of color near the elbow and in the close parallel incisions in the beard indicate that the stone was painted, as was common on the façades of medieval cathedrals.