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Treasure, is a word which seduces, fascinates, intrigues. Behind it, we can feel richness and secret, a mysterious universe emerges.
Through this second Newsletter, we will discover that a Treasure is an instrument, not only of material hording, but also of spiritual one. We will see that it reveals a patrimony, unique and localized. If the rarity of the Treasure is linked to the spirituality which emerges from it, it is also the consequence of the precious arts which created it.
ORIGIN
The origin of the Treasure goes back to the official birth of Christianity, in 313 after Jesus Christ. Constantin provides for the edifices he funds, and permits to endow them with the necessary objects of worship celebration.
With the passing centuries, treasures grow, through three ways. First, and it is the principal historic motivation, the gifts, given in the concern of eternal Salvation. Second, through the recovery of antiques objects, which find in the Treasure a prestigious re-use. Finally, through the conversion to Christianity for some of them.
DEFINITION
A Treasure is generally constituted with silversmith pieces, like chalices or reliquaries ; but also with ornaments or sculptures. Each Treasure is different, unique, not only according to what it is constituted with, but also according to other criterions as much important. Actually, if the Treasure is materially rich (gold, silver, precious stones…), it is also in many other ways : its specificity is due to the spiritual memory transmitted through its relics, to its historic foundations, and to the artisans who created its pieces.
The relics constituted at the beginning, the base of the Treasure. It was for them, that pilgrims covered sometimes gigantic distances. For example, when a worship place had been funded by a Saint, his relic was considered as the major Treasure of the place. Afterwards, the wish of apostolicity during the Middle Ages, has brought many new relics, in order to create closer ties with Rome, thanks to the Saints relics and particularly the Apostles ones. Treasure and Patrimony are therefore linked up. As the centuries went by, the Treasures never stayed the same, constituting the patrimony of a cathedral or a church.
Concerning its historic foundations, we must not forget that the Treasure is the reflection of the temporal power, because it can keep up a particular tie, political or institutional, with the monarch, notably through the insigna (gifts of a King to the Treasure). We can also find in a Treasure the regalia, instrument and cloth of the coronation, like in the Abbey of Saint Denis in Paris, which was closed to the French monarchy, and which became a royal abbey, necropolis of the French Kings, and guardian of the regalia.
Finally, the craft industry which created the Treasures, shall not be considered of secondary importance. Even if it is the “tool” of the Treasure, it reveals of an ingenious and devoted fervour in the research of the Beautiful and of God. The artisans mastery on materials and their extraordinary creations reminds that, above all, the Treasure springs from the Man.
HISTORY
Each Treasure has its own history, but a general History emerges from Treasures.
“Hiding in order to create desire.” The Treasure stayed a secret during a long time. At the beginning, its relics were hidden in closed reliquaries, showed only for pilgrimages, and it was a real honour to be near or see them. It is only from the 19th century, that the possibility of exhibition is allowed : the Treasure becomes approachable for pilgrims and tourists.
The Treasure is also a link with God.
The Abbot Suger (1081-1151), theoretician and poet of the absolute luxury in the liturgical art, funded a theory of the “sensitive forms” : “When, penetrated by the delight of the beauty of God’s House, the charm of the multicoloured gemstones led me to reflect, transposing the material into immaterial, about the diversity of the sacred virtues, then it seems to me that I can see myself residing, like in reality, in a strange part of the Universe, which does not earlier exist neither in the earth silt, nor in the sky purity, and that, with God’s blessing, I am transported from here below, into the higher world (…).”
In the Apocalypse 21, the evocation of the celestial Jerusalem, offers a sublime picture, illustrating this theory of the sensitive forms : “ She was radiant like a precious stone, like a crystalline jasper stone. She is provided with a very high rampart, with twelve doors (…). This rampart is made of jasper, and the city is made of pure gold, like a very pure crystal (…).”
That is why the Treasure and its material richness, the Beautiful it holds, give to the Man the possibility to be closer to God.
Finally, the Treasure is a fragile testimony to the patrimony.
Through its history, its sacred nature did not reach to preserve it from pillaging, war, revolution, voluntary sales, theft, withdrawals of the royal power, … These objects made of precious materials are their own factors of ruin or disappearance.
In conclusion, the Treasure is material and spiritual, tool of the power, museum, patrimony… But above all, it is a link between the Man and God.
Sources :
Trésors des Cathédrales d’Europe – Liège à Beaune – Somogy – Edition d’Art
Les Objets du Sacré – Editions Ouest France
Trésors de vermeil et d’argent – Conseil Général du Cher
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