ONE of the gems of the Vatican's priceless religious art collection - a 6th-century reliquary containing purported fragments of the cross on which Jesus was crucified - has been restored to its Byzantine-era glory. The Vatican was last night expected to unveil the restored Crux Vaticana, a jewel-encrusted golden cross containing what tradition holds are shards of Jesus' cross.
Art experts said the cross was now much closer to what it would have looked like when Byzantine Emperor Justin II gave it to the people of Rome.
Most significantly, the work corrected a botched 19th-century restoration that had threatened to corrode the piece.
And it replaced brightly coloured gems added in previous centuries with the large, imperfect pearls that typify Byzantine-era imperial masterpieces, said restorer Sante Guido.
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