Vatican unveils restored relic

19/11/2009 - 13:59:24
One of the gems of the Vatican’s priceless religious art collection, a 6th Century reliquary supposedly containing fragments of the cross on which Jesus was crucified, has been restored to its Byzantine-era glory.

The Vatican today unveiled the restored Crux Vaticana, a foot-high jewel-encrusted golden cross containing what tradition holds are shards of Jesus’ cross inside.

Byzantine art experts said the restoration rendered the cross much closer to what it would have looked like at the time the Byzantine Emperor Justin II gave it to the people of Rome.

Most significantly, the restoration corrected a botched 19th century effort that threatened to corrode the piece.

And it replaced the brightly coloured gems that were added in previous centuries with the large, imperfect pearls that are emblematic of Byzantine-era imperial masterpieces.