The treasures of Saint-Marcel church
And also
The tops
The treasure is made of several pieces from the 13th c. to the 15th c. Displayed in New-York in 1996, is that all? People hid them during the French Revolution.
In the Middle-Age, people worshipped relics above all things. Pilgrimages and processions multiplied.
In order to protect those relics, they locked them in precious reliquary made with precious gems: unique goldsmithing pieces, often created by talented workshop from Limousin (specialist in the subject in the 12th and 14th c.).
The church’s reliquaries were given by rich donors.
• The copper shrine (one of the tallest one from Limousin) dates back to 1230. We have Jesus Christ with Virgin Mary below and the 4 Apostles. On sides, angels.
• The wooden shrine (made with one single piece of oak), beginning of the 14th c., representing Marcel’s martyr.
• The two reliquaries of saint Marcel, with a chest shape, one made of wood (13th c.), the other one made of silver copper (14th c.). The wooden one was used as a mould for the silver one, they only discovered it in 1965, during a restoration!
• The reliquary-arm made of silver and vermeil (14th c.); one pitcher’s bottom (15th c.) from Belgium; a ciborium from the 19th c. and two crosses, one with an olive tree basis from the 13th c., the other one from the 14th c. with a medallion saying: “From the real Cross, from saint Peter, from stone of the Calvary mountain, from saint Stephen and others saints.”