Notre-Dame de Paris keeps the Crown of Thorns, a sacred relic believed to be the very crown placed on the head of Jesus Christ by Roman soldiers during his mocking

Fortunately, the relic was saved during the fire, and after the restoration the crown was placed in a new reliquary.

Here is the reliquary of one of the greatest holy objects of mankind, made in our own day by Sylvain Dubuisson; compare it simply with the reliquary created in the nineteenth century by Placide Poussielgue-Rusand.

No, I do not always abuse everything new, but this reliquary, however elegant, looks rather more like the reception desk of a Turkish hotel than a receptacle for a revered relic in a French cathedral. That, in sum, is the whole difference in the aesthetic convictions of the two eras.

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

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Notre-Dame de Paris keeps the Crown of Thorns, a sacred relic believed to be the very crown placed on the head of Jesus Christ by Roman soldiers during his mocking

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

Frederic Leighton

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