The Vatican has loaned to Cuba “as a great exception” and for one year an artifact considered the most ancient example of indigenous Christian art in the New World, having once belonged to the chaplain of Christopher Columbus.

The piece is a lectern for Mass used by Columbus’ chaplain on the explorer’s second voyage to America, presumably made by Indians in eastern Cuba and belonging to the collection of the Vatican’s Missionary Ethnological Museum, Cuban official media said Friday.

The loan was authorized as “a great exception” by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, following a request made by Havana historian Eusebio Leal to the director of Vatican Museums.