which says that it was
obtained by the Empress Helene in the year 326, while in the Holy Land,
whither she went for the express purpose of obtaining relics of our
Saviour and his followers; that she gave it to the see of Treves, and
that it was deposited in the cathedral of that city; that it was
afterward lost, having been hidden in disturbed times within the walls
of the cathedral, and rediscovered under the Archbishop John I., in
1196; that it was again hidden for the same reason, brought to light,
and exposed to the wondering multitude in 1512, on the occasion of the
famous Diet of Treves, under the Emperor Maximilian. "Since this last
epoch," says the author of the work already quoted, "the history of the
Holy Robe has been often discussed, written, and sung, because it has
been often publicly exposed, and at short intervals, whenever political
troubles have not prevented."
At Treves is an ancient tomb to Cardinal Ivo, with heavily sculptured
capitals surmounting four small columns, whose pedestals are crouching
lions. But for the crudity of the sculpture, and the weird beasts at its
base, one might almost think the tomb a Renaissance work.
The cardinal died in 1142, and the work is unquestionably of the
Romanesque period. It is reminiscent, moreover, of the southern portal
of the Cathedral of Notre Dame of Embrun in the south of France; indeed,
a drawing of one might well pass for the other were it not labelled,
though to be sure there is a distinct difference in detail.
Among the treasures of Treves is a censer, one of the most elaborate
ever devised. It is in the form of an ample bowl, with its cover worked
in silver in the form of a church on the lines of a Greek cross. The
device is most unusual, but rather clumsily ornate.
There are two curious statues in the portal of Notre Dame; one
representing the Church and the other the synagogue; the one with a
clear, straightforward look in her eyes, the other blindfolded and with
the crown falling from her head. The symbol is frequently met with, but
the method of indicating the opposition of the new religious law to that
of the old is, in these life-size statues, at Treves, perhaps unique.
The figures are somewhat mutilated, each lacking the arms, but in other
respects they stand as originally conceived.
The cathedral of St. Pierre et Ste. Helene is situated in the most
elevated portion of the city, and, like the cathedral at Bonn, above
Cologne, presents
|