The reliquaire
of the True Cross one is a very important enamelled copper uvre, of the
workshops of Limoges, the extreme end of the XII° S.
It was controlled especially to contain the relic of the True Cross intended
for St. Sernin , of which it tells the history.
This one can be read, like a comic strip, on the body of the box: one sees there
successively the scéne invention of the True Cross with holy Héléne
and the Judas Jew, then the abbot of Josaphat giving the relic to Raymond Botardel,
notary Toulouse who embarks Holy Land with the relic, that it finally gives
to Pons de Montpezat, abbot of Saint-Sernin from 1176 to 1198. The lid with
four sides shows Christ in majesty and the holy women with the tomb. This reliquary
was assembled on piétement out of copper, carried by four caryatids,
in second half of the XVI° century.