Pageant wagon
A pageant wagon is a movable stage or wagon used to accommodate the mystery and miracle play cycles of the 10th through the 16th century. These religious plays were developed from biblical texts; at the height of their popularity, they were allowed to stay within the churches, and special stages were erected for them. Pageant comes from the archaic word for the wagon stage, "pagyn.” It is a word used to describe the movable stage on which a scene of the processional religious play was performed. The origin of the religious play began in medieval churches. The dramas began as a simple way to impart the message of the Bible to the people. They then grew and developed their own conventions. They brought to the common person a pageantry and entertainment so necessary to relieve the people from the monotony of the everyday task. In places like St. Gall, Switzerland, in the 10th century, the Easter mass was often an occasion for festive performance. Pantomimes would take place in the church depicting Christ's resurrection. A few centuries later in Florence, Filippo Brunelleschi (1377–1446) began to create theatrical depictions of religious texts and see them as a potential work of art.