THE TELEGRAPH: The Crux Vaticana, a golden reliquary said to hold fragments of the cross on which Christ was crucified, has been painstakingly restored.
The jewel-encrusted golden cross stands about a foot high and was given by the Byzantine emperor Justin II to the people of Rome in the sixth century.
It is one of the most valued treasures held in the Vatican's collection of religious artefacts.
Art experts said on Thursday the two-year restoration rendered the cross much closer to what it would have looked like at the time that it was made.
The restoration involved removing the brightly coloured jewels that had been added to the cross in the centuries after its creation and replacing them with a circle of pearls.
While there are purported fragments of Christ's cross in churches around the world, the Crux Vaticana is considered the oldest reliquary. >>> Nick Squires in Rome | Thursday, November 19, 2009
