Copes in polychrome silk and gold leaf, displayed on rotation for conservation purposes. A cope is part of a priest or bishop’s formal attire, used for processions or Eucharistic blessings. The cope is a cloak of semicircular shape, inspired by the clerical or monastic hood used in the 8th and 9th centuries. The term "cope", or “piviale” in Italian, is derived from the Latin word pluvialis, or "cloak for the rain": equipped with a hood, which over time has been miniaturised into a sort of shield, a symbolic reminder of its original function.