As part of the Being Human Festival 2023.

Nottingham Castle’s medieval alabaster sculptures are among the more intriguing and enigmatic objects ever produced in the city.

At the peak of their popularity, they were exported from the East Midlands across Christian Europe and Scandinavia. What did they mean to medieval people?

Explore the cultural importance of these medieval sculptures as familiar and much-loved objects – powerful story-telling devices, and sites of devotion, but also tools for the formation of personal, professional and regional identities.

This activity explores the festival theme of rhyme and reason by exploring the relationship between popular culture (including art, music, and poetry), and politics and theology, to which these objects speak.

The event will include a poetry reading, talk and play performance bringing the sculptures to life and linked to the story of St Zita, who is represented in one of the statues, and her miraculous ability to feed and care for the needy.

This event is part of the University of Nottingham’s festival Hub programme.