On occasion of the  Jubilee of 2025 and of its 50th anniversary, the Textile Museum of Prato celebrates this double event with an exhibition dedicated to the cope made for Pope John Paul II commemorating the opening of the Holy Door for the Great Jubilee of 2000.

The creation of the cope and of the liturgical robes worn by the clergy was possible thanks to the commitment of the textile companies of the Unione Industriale Pratese.

Over 16,000 metres of the fabric were used to make 4,000 liturgical robes for cardinals, bishops and priests, some of which were also worn during the celebrations of the opening of the Holy Door of the current Jubilee.

The vestments, through the shape, design and material, had to go hand in hand with the expectations of a Church entering the Third Millennium. So was chosen a polychrome pattern, not white as per tradition, and a free interpretation of some theological subjects such as the cosmos, man, the Redeemer and the end of time.
Symbolically interpreted by the colours blue, red and gold, these subjects were inserted within a pattern with pointed arches, an allusion to the Door – both the Holy Door opened by the pontiff and the Threshold symbolising man’s aspiration to a higher and universal order. Two red rivulets in each arch symbolically manifested the sacrifice of Christ.