The crown of thorns, the most precious relic of Notre Dame, returned this Friday to the cathedral, from which It was rescued along with other vestiges and treasures during the fire of April 2019. Thus, it has been introduced into its new reliquary during a solemn celebration, within the series of masses and events that are being held after the reopening of the cathedral after five years of reconstruction work.
“We have come to accompany the Holy Crown to the reliquary,” said the Archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, to the faithful gathered for a celebration that could only be accessed by reservation. The crown, protected by a circular glass tube and placed on a velvet cushion, was on the altar during the celebration before being shown to the attendees, and then placed in the reliquary.
It is a crown of reeds intertwined with gold thread that tradition considered the Romans had placed it on the head of Christ before his crucifixion. The relic was purchased by King Louis IX, Saint Louis of France, from his cousin Emperor Baldwin of Constantinople and taken to Paris in 1239, initially to the Holy Chapel, the Gothic wonder built expressly next to the old royal palace to house the crown.
The object was taken to Notre Dame in the 19th century and, after being saved from the 2019 fire, it was kept in the safe of the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, in the capital’s City Hall. The most important relics of the cathedral, the crown, as well as others two pieces that tradition also attributes to the crucifixion – a nail and a piece of wood from the cross – were placed in a new reliquary.
This new reliquary, contemporary in style and about three meters high, is made up of a large marble drawer that stores the nail and the wooden fragment, and which in turn is governed by an enormous vertical structure. This metal structure, circular in shape and covered with several hundred crystals that reflect light, is the one that houses the crown in the center. The complex was built by craftsmen from the Coubertin Foundation in Paris.with architect and designer Sylvain Dubuisson leading the team.
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