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Pectoral Reliquary Cross
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This type of hinged pectoral cross, called an enkolpion, functioned as a container for a small relic, such as a fragment of the True Cross. Although many enkolpia of gold, silver, and precious stones were made during the Medieval period for kings and bishops, this type of cast-bronze reliquary cross would have been more typical among ordinary Christians. The cross here, which features an image of the Crucifixion on the front and the haloed Virgin Mary with her arms raised in prayer (orans) on the reverse, is connected especially with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which became a meeting place for Christian pilgrims. Reliquary crosses like this one, also thought to function as protective amulets, were made in Palestine and acquired by pilgrims who took them away to distant shores.