Vestments of St. Peter's Basilica

In former years all the copes and chasubles of the Vatican Basilica had this emblem. 

The past exists, as an enduring fact, an ineliminable part of the extended present.

From Vitruvius through the Renaissance to the Gothic revival, responses to art in the liturgy have always been backward-looking.  We are still backward-looking and this is okay.

Such beauty, craftsmanship, and skill and devotion of yesterday that we can learn from and be inspired by.