The mystery of the crown of Christ

The relief was great when many of the faithful, as Monday came at night, the news that firefighters and a chaplain had the crown of thorns from the burning of Notre-Dame can save. The crown of thorns is considered to be one of the most valuable relics of the Catholic Church. Jesus should have at the crucifixion where you had him, the Roman soldiers placed to mock him. So it is in three Gospels in the New Testament.

How old the crown is, in fact, however, it is not exactly. A large number of the relics dates back to the middle ages and not from the first century. Relics had up to the Reformation, a large symbolic meaning and served as an instrument of power. Who could bring a valuable relic in his possession, his Power seemed to Shine brighter. The relics trade in the middle ages was also a profitable business.

"According to the accessible publications, the crown of thorns has been studied recently by Charles Rohault de Fleury 1870", says David Ganz, Professor for the history of art from the middle ages to the University of Zurich . The same conclusion Georges Kazan, relics of a specialist from the University of Oxford.

This means that, unlike other relics, the crown, no investigation with today's scientific method, to your age to determine.

The University of Oxford has set up for this purpose in 2015, a research center. In the Oxford Centre for the Study of Religious Relics, the scientists determine the age of relics with the so-called radiocarbon method. Thus, researchers are able to prove the age of organic materials. With such radiocarbon Dating, researchers demonstrated, for example, that the shroud of Turin, allegedly the burial cloth of Jesus, is not from the 1., but from the 14. Century.

Louis IX of France purchased it in 1238 for a lot of money

The crown of thorns is, according to de Fleury, from two different plants that actually grow in the Mediterranean or the Middle East. "This says of course nothing about the age or the authenticity of the crown," says. The thorns came from the Ziziphus spina-christi (Syrian Christ thorn), the Rest of the crown is braided from rushes of the Juncus balticus (Baltic rush).

the relic was Kept so it is assumed on the basis of written sources, for the time being in Jerusalem. First mentions appear in the sixth century. In the course of the eighteenth century succeeded to the Byzantine emperors, however, to bring them to Constantinople, today's Istanbul. The Byzantines were hoarding, especially relics from the passion story of Jesus that were regarded as particularly valuable.

1238 pledged to the indebted Byzantines the crown to Venice. There was as pious applicable to French king Louis IX (1214-1270) corresponded to the relic, finally, for a then astronomical sum of 135'000 Livres, which his Budget for a year and a half. In the year 1239, she brought a negotiator to Villeneuve, where Ludwig took you in a special ceremony in the reception. The chronicler reports the king had assumed the crown as a sign of humility, barefoot and only in a shirt, dressed, and in the town.

The relic served the French king, then to his power of legitimacy. He stuck one of the thorns of his own crown and so wanted to symbolize that Jesus had crowned him, and he was his legitimate representative on earth. On arrival in Paris, Ludwig had to remove the thorns, presumably, is the wreath. The thorns were considered individually as relics, and are located in different places.

when will return the crown in Notre-Dame?

1248 was Louis, the Sainte Chapelle built, where the French retained the crown of thorns until the year 1804. Since then, she belonged to the relics of the treasure of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. "Relics offered the faithful the opportunity to see the Saint, or to even touch," says. In the case of the crown of thorns that was Touching but hardly possible. Nevertheless, these objects would have in the eyes of the faithful with a special power that make the Faith much more tangible than an abstract prayer.

when the crown in Notre-Dame will not return, is not yet clear. The Team of restorers could receive unexpected help page on how to various French media reports. In the video game "Assassin's Creed Unity" plays a longer sequence in Notre-Dame. The French Studio Ubisoft had created an elaborate 3-D copy of the Cathedral. Fans hope, the template could help. In more detail, the plans created by the art historian Andrew Tallon using a laser scans, however, are.

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Created: 20.04.2019, 17:12 PM