NARRATOR: This rosary bead was carved out of boxwood in the early sixteenth century in the Netherlands. The rosary is a string of beads used for counting a sequence of prayers, alternating one Paternoster ("Our Father," the Lord's Prayer) with ten Ave Marias ("Hail Marys"). The rosary has been used from the end of the fifteenth century to the present. This particular bead is a Paternoster bead. When reciting the Paternoster prayer, the worshipper would finger the outside of this closed bead, feeling its crevices and patterns as he or she prayed. Then she would open the bead, read the surrounding inscription, and contemplate the scenes carved inside. It is likely that the remarkably intricate details you see here were achieved with the help of a magnifying lens. By the late Middle Ages, the cult of the Virgin reached new heights, and the veneration of the rosary became widely popular. The tactile quality of the beads accentuated the worshippers' immediate religious experience and provided a focus for their prayers.