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Bavarian Pilgrimage Medals from six centuries

Back in the High Middle Ages there were so-called "pilgrim badges" at important pilgrimage sites. These badges were supposed to testify that their carrier had completed the pilgrimage to a holy place. Probably the best known example of such a badge is the scallop, worn by pilgrims who successfully completed their pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela to the tomb of Saint James.

From the thirteenth century onwards, the production and distribution of pilgrim badges also took off in Bavaria, initially it happened sporadically but later more and more widely. This phenomenon was so widespread in the late Middle Ages and in modern times that almost every pilgrimage church had its own pilgrim badge. They show a great variety as regards the design, while the choice of motifs remained rather limited. Apart from the particularly large and important pilgrimage places, usually only a handful of motifs were used in alternation. At the large pilgrimage sites, such as Altötting or Ettal, the variety of motifs could be considerably greater.

During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the pilgrim badges developed more and more to become devotional objects and souvenirs. They can still be purchased today from the regionally and nationally important pilgrimage churches.

The other part collections of "Coins, medals and coin-like objects from Bavaria, Franconia, Swabia and the Palatinate in modern times" on bavarikon

>> This collection is part of the holdings of "Coins, medals and coin-like objects from Bavaria, Franconia, Swabia and the Palatinate in modern times" of the Staatliche Münzsammlung München (State Coin Collection Munich).