Reliquary of the True Cross

The interior of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher includes the Hill of Calvary, the site where Jesus Christ was crucified. Since Empress Helena (246/48–330) rediscovered the relics of the Passion of Christ, fragments of the wooden cross on which Christ was killed have been the most precious relics in Christianity. Traditionally, such reliquaries are made in the shape of a cross and include minuscule wooden fragments at their center. Created in Paris in the seventeenth century, this object is usually displayed in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher on two feast days: May 6 (the feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross) and September 14 (the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross).