The cathedral’s treasure is housed in an elegant arched room formerly reserved for the cathedral’s Chapter. It has gathered together the precious liturgical furniture offered by the faithful for the service of worship: chalices, cross, monstrances, censers, books, crooks, vestments, shrines, paintings, and tapestries. While most of the pieces have come from the cathedral, others have been deposited there by churches of the diocese for reasons of safety. A Byzantine cross and two remarkable reliquary shrines are preserved among these objects. These shelter the relics of a saint or martyr – bones or objects connected with their lives – consecrated for worship by the faithful and by pilgrims. Initially placed in the crypt of the Romance churches, they were then enclosed in some richly decorated shrines exposed in the chapels of the ambulatory of the Gothic churches.

• The reliquary of the true cross, known as the Byzantine Cross

…is a cross of blessing used in the Eastern church. It was brought back at the time of the 4th crusade, called the Constantinople Crusade, by the Knight Jean Bliauc. It is regarded as a reliquary to the extent that it would contain, under a rock crystal blade, a fragment of the cross of Christ.

• The shrine of Our Flemish Lady (1205)

…contains the main relics deposited in the cathedral until the 12th century. This wooden shrine covered with copper and silver plate is the work of Nicolas de Verdun, the famous Mosan goldsmith. The glorious Christ and the Mother of God surrounded by the Magi appear in the gables while the sides and the roof illustrate scenes of the life of Marie and Jesus.

• The shrine of St Eleutherius (1247)