CLOTH OF LIGHT. The Jubilee Cope of John Paul II

Celebrating its 50th anniversary and the ongoing Jubilee of 2025, from 19 June to 21 September 2025, the Museo del Tessuto di Prato has chosen to again display one of the works in its collections after 25 years: the authentic replica of the cope that John Paul II wore at the opening of the Holy Door for the Great Jubilee of 2000.

The project for the papal cope and liturgical robes worn by the clergy began in 1999. The textile companies of Prato, represented at the time by the Unione Industriale Pratese (Industrial Union of Prato), now Confindustria Toscana Nord, were involved in the fabric’s creation. The design and making of the robes was entrusted to the sacred art atelier X Regio of Venice.

Over 16,000 metres of the fabric were used to make 4,000 liturgical robes for cardinals, bishops and priests, some of which were also worn during the celebrations of the opening of the Holy Door of the current Jubilee.

In terms of symbolic value, design, technical characteristics and form, the conception of the fabrics and garments for the Jubilee of 2000 had to go hand in hand with the expectations of a Church entering the Third Millennium.

The indications provided for the textile design suggested a polychrome pattern, not white as per tradition, and free interpretation which however included precise theological subjects: the cosmos, man, the Redeemer and the end of time.

Symbolically interpreted by the colours blue, red and gold, these subjects were inserted within a pattern with pointed arches, an allusion to the Door – both the Holy Door opened by the pontiff and the Threshold symbolising man’s aspiration to a higher and universal order. Two red rivulets in each arch symbolically manifested the sacrifice of Christ.

The cope is lined with pure golden-yellow Shantung silk, without the traditional cope partitions (shield, stole and passementerie) and is fastened with a circular jewel known liturgically as a morse, the work of Georgian-born French goldsmith Goudji Amachoukeli.

The Cloth of Light exhibition also displays some of the vestments made for the clergy – which included an insert of jubilee fabric applied to a white, pure wool fabric with gold lurex wefts – and documents on the creation of the textile design.

The Museum would like to thank Fideuram – Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking for their support of the initiative and, in particular, the promoters Irene Becheri, Anna Bertazzini, Alessandro Brogi, Mauro Doni and Maurizio Niccoli.