Robes made of silk are among the most precious objects that have come down to us from ancient and late antique times. The church of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan has two such exceptional examples in its church treasure: one still in the almost unbelievable size of about 2.77 x 1.70 m, in white, with two red stripes; the other, broken into many fragments, decorated with predatory cats and hunters. Both vestments are revered as the tunics of St Ambrose, the famous Milanese bishop of the 4th century. The aim of the project is twofold:

• Conservation and analysis of the fabrics. The conservation, in which the tissues are very carefully cleaned on site and rehoused in new, modern frames, is under the direction of the Cologne textile conservator Ulrike Reichert
• Examination of the tunics of St. Ambrose as textile relics. The subsequent successive wrapping with other textiles shows that the vestments were considered extremely valuable from late antiquity onwards, but also in the following centuries. Central questions are at what point an inherent sanctity was attested to the tunics, and at what point they were understood and venerated as relics.

All work is being carried out in close collaboration with the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per la Città Metropolitana di Milano.