1/ Copy of the Ambazac Reliquary
Wooden structure covered with copper plates decorated with glass cabochons
André Lanthonie, goldsmith
Circa 1970
Loaned by the Society of Friends of Saint-Sylvestre and the Grandmont Abbey (SASSAG)
This work is a copy of the reliquary shrine in the church of Ambazac in Haute-Vienne. It is a reproduction of the largest and finest of the seven reliquaries displayed on the main altar of the church at Grandmont Abbey in the late 12th century. It is also the only one to have escaped destruction during the French Revolution. This reliquary was displayed next to that of Saint Stephen of Muret and it housed the relics of Saint Macarius in the Middle Ages.
The Ambazac Reliquary, and its copy, are in the shape of a two-storey building with architectural decorations. The whole ends with a gable roof crowned with a ridge. A few details differentiate the copy from the original, such as the bird in the centre of the apex which was not reproduced in the copy. The structure of the reliquary represents an allegory of heavenly Jerusalem. The lower part, which contained the relics, represents the tomb, while the upper part houses the saint's soul. The bird symbolises the Holy Spirit, embodied in a dove.
After the dissolution of the abbey during the Revolution, the reliquary, containing a tibia of Saint Stephen and a dalmatic, was entrusted to the priest of Ambazac. We can deduce that the relics of Saint Macarius had disappeared and that the large Saint Stephen of Muret reliquary had been destroyed.
Much sought-after by collectors in the early 19th century, it became famous throughout France after being displayed at the Universal Exhibitions of 1878 and 1889. Later (in 1891) it was classified as a Historic Monument and was included in numerous Parisian exhibitions. But curiously, it was from its usual home in Ambazac that it was stolen in 1907. This theft caused quite a stir and had an international impact. In one of Arsène Lupin’s adventures, The Hollow Needles (1919), author Maurice Leblanc alludes to this now famous theft! The reliquary was soon uncovered at a London antique dealer’s. The Thomas brothers, seasoned thieves specialising in religious items, were behind the crime. They were caught and tried.
The reliquary's most recent journey took it across the Atlantic Ocean for an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 1996.
2/ Monstrance reliquary
Embossed, engraved, filigree copper, rock crystal, semi-precious stones, antique intaglios
France, Limousin workshop, 13th century and Antiquity
Loaned by Arnac-la-Poste, the Saint-Martial parish church
Listed a Historic Monument by ministerial decree on June 20, 1891