The pre-modern mind

This is a 16th century silver cross, an object of significant value in its time. The symbolism of the cross is obvious, but read the lettering. It says ABRACA[]O+. (I cannot read one letter, which looks like an inverted mju.) Museum curators claim this is 'ABRACADABRA' and that certainly catches the intention.

The cross is part of a special exhibition at the Château de Chillon, which we visited in the pouring rain today. The exhibition is quite spread out but rather good - the curators clearly has a didactic purpose beyond mere titillation and temporal voyeurism and this captures two of their themes, namely that even during periods of witch-hunting, magic itself was not seen as a bad thing (after all, at 3" wide this cross was made to be worn visibly by someone of status) and religion is also seen, and encouraged by the rituals of the church to be seen, as a magical practice.

FWIW, the signature of Byron scratched in the cellars looked like a fake to me.