Following its international exhibition tour, which took it to Germany and France,*The Fable of the Unicorn* has returned to the Ferrara Cathedral Museum, where it is once again on view to the public. The medieval sculpture, one of the most significant works of 13th-century Ferrara art, was on display from October 2025 to February 2026 at the Barberini Museum in Potsdam, Germany, as part of the exhibition *Unicorn: The Mythical Beast in Art, before moving on to the Musée de Cluny in Paris as part of the exhibition *Licornes!*, which concluded in July 2026.
Created around 1250 by the Maestranza Campionese in Vicenza limestone, the work was originally part of the pulpit of Ferrara Cathedral. The relief depicts an episode from the legend of Saints Barlaam and Josaphat, transforming the story into an allegory of the human condition.
The scene shows a man being chased by a ferocious beast who seeks refuge in a small tree, a symbol of life. The man, drawn to the appearance of the unicorn—an allegory of the fear of death—fails to notice that two mice, representing day and night, are gnawing away at the trunk, which is destined to break. His fall will thus lead him toward the monster below, in a sculpted representation of the precariousness of existence and the passage of time.
“The inclusion of the ‘Apologue of the Unicorn’ in two prestigious international exhibitions, in Potsdam and Paris, attests to the extraordinary value of Ferrara’s artistic heritage and its ability to engage with an international audience,” states Marco Gulinelli, Ferrara’s Councilor for Culture. “These important museum collaborations have helped raise awareness of one of the most significant examples of medieval sculpture associated with Ferrara Cathedral, confirming our city’s role as the guardian of a cultural heritage of the highest excellence.”
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| "The Fable of the Unicorn" Returns to Ferrara Following Exhibitions in Potsdam (Germany) and Paris |
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