An unknown Mosan workshop from the early Middle Ages crafted this precious double-armed jewelled cross (Crux gemmata) in order to hold a small fragment of the True Cross. The relic itself, arranged in the form of a simple cross, is placed on the front surface.

Christians have been venerating fragments of the True Cross since the late 4th century. Particularly magnificent cross-shaped reliquaries known as staurotheke (from the ancient Greek σταυρός staurós “cross” and θήκη théke “container, receptacle”), were designed to hold the wooden splinters. The design of the double-armed cross itself is inherited from Byzantium. After the sack of Constantinople in 1204, these so-called “patriarchal” crosses began arriving in Western Europe where they were imitated, mainly in the valley of the Meuse.

Made of gilded copper plates and embellished with delicate filigree work, gemstones and pearls, the front of the reliquary also features, above the relic itself, a statuette of Christ probably made of bone. The position of the feet, the knot of the loincloth pulled upwards as well as the odd proportions of the arms seem to indicate that the figure was originally part of a Deposition from the Cross. Several of the gemstones were reused. They are perforated and were taken from other pieces of jewellery, whereas others might have been part of the loot brought to Europe from the Orient by the Crusaders.

The back of the cross is made of gilded copper plates that have been engraved. The lower plate was probably replaced around 1600. In the foliage of the Tree of Life we see the four evangelists, Christ and most likely St. Peter grouped around the central figure of the Divine Lamb. The figures engraved on the reverse were probably made in the mid-13th century in a southern German workshop influenced by France.

We do not know who commissioned this reliquary nor its original location. Around 1600, it belonged to Archduke Albert (1596-1621), governor of the southern Netherlands. Through Jean de Busbach (†1632), assessor at the Imperial Diet, and the Arnoult family, this precious object was given to the convent of Our Lady of Luxembourg in 1737, who passed it on to the MNHA in 2009.