No. Objects like Excalibur, the Holy Grail and Mjölnir exist only in myth and legend. This archive is an imaginary exhibition that begins with the question, “What if legends had left physical objects behind?” The commentary is based on the earliest texts that record each legend.

Real museum objects that resemble them. The Holy Grail, for example, is represented by the sixth-century Byzantine Antioch “Chalice,” once promoted as the true Grail, and Kusanagi by straight swords from sixth-century Japan. The “Object in the photo” section on each artifact page names the real object, and the museums and licenses are listed in the credits of the repository README. Cheonbuin is a composite made from photographs of three objects.

Each photograph is cut into hundreds or thousands of 256–512 pixel tiles at several scales, a technique called deep zoom. Only the tiles on screen are downloaded, so even a very large image opens quickly and sharpens as you zoom.

The photographs are public domain (CC0) releases from The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Cleveland Museum of Art, so you may use them freely. The commentary, annotations and composite images were created for this project.

A curator draws regions on the photograph and writes the notes in the admin screen. You can browse the admin screen with a guest account.

The wave button in the menu below stops scroll effects, automatic transitions and the cursor effect. If reduced motion is turned on in your operating system, the site starts with them stopped.