Seven-armed candlestick
bronze | 3,3 m x 2 m
The candlestick has symbolised the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit since early Christianity. At the same time, it refers to the Old and New Testaments depicting the tree of Jesse and Christ. The seven-branched became part of the furnishings of churches in the 9th century. They derive from the seven-branched candlestick that Charlemagne had placed in the chapel at Achaia to assert his power and legitimacy to rule by evoking Solomon’s Temple. The Old Brno candlestick probably dates from the 15th century and is thus one of the oldest cast works. It was originally placed in the complex of the Monastery of St. Thomas. Together with the fragment of the so-called Milan candlestick, it is a unique monument of its kind.