L’Œuvre en scène : « La maquette du complexe du Saint-Sépulcre de Jérusalem » (English subtitles)

Conférence présentée par Maximien Durand (Musée du Louvre), le 17 janvier 2024 à 12h30 à l’auditorium Michel-Laclotte.

« L’œuvre en scène » est un format unique en son genre qui invite à prendre le temps de regarder une antiquité, une peinture, un dessin, un objet d’art ou une sculpture sous tous les angles.
Pendant une heure, l’œuvre, installée sur la scène de l’auditorium, est analysée et décryptée en direct par un spécialiste.

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Cette fabuleuse maquette en bois, nacre et ivoire, tapissée de fleurs de lys, vient enrichir les collections du Département des Arts de Byzance et des Chrétientés en Orient récemment créé au sein du Louvre. Elle simule, en miniature, l’expérience d’un pèlerinage au Saint-Sépulcre de Jérusalem : à qui exactement pouvait être destiné cet objet, fait en Palestine pour être envoyé en Europe ? Et pour quels usages précisément ?

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Hello everyone. My name is Luc Bouniol-Laffont. I’m director of the auditorium and shows at the Musée du Louvre, and I’m delighted to welcome so many of you to the Michel Laclotte auditorium this lunchtime. We are delighted to be back together for another Œuvre en scène. This is one of the longest-running formats in our programme, and Laurence des Cars, our president and director, wanted to make it a veritable school for the eye at the heart of our museum. And we are delighted to have him with us today. Starting this season, we have chosen to highlight a number of works around a theme or question. Since September, we’ve been looking at the links between power and the sacred. We began this cycle with the silly little statuette from my I in Mesopotamia, and continued with the reliquary of the Holy Crown of Thorns from the treasury of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Today we complete this journey through centuries and geographies, stopping in Palestine in the XVIIᵉ century to look at this magnificent model of the Holy Sepulchre complex in Jerusalem from every angle. This exceptional work is a recent acquisition by our museum, added to the collections of the Louvre’s ninth department. Created in 2022 and dedicated to the arts of Byzantium and Christianity in the East. We have spared no expense in terms of technical resources to enable you to discover it in the best possible conditions. The device you have in front of you with all these cameras will allow us to see the many, many details. As you will see, that’s what this conference is all about. All around and inside this model, « God is hidden in the details ». In a moment, you’ll even see that thanks to the technical resources deployed, we’ll be able to take you inside this model like a visitor or pilgrim to the Holy Land to compare this miniature Holy Sepulchre that you have before your eyes with the actual building that still stands in the heart of the old city of Jerusalem. And we will do so in order to answer two essential questions that tie in with the theme of this cycle devoted to "power and the sacred". How did this model work? What were its uses? And above all, for whom was it intended? And to guide us in the discovery of this fabulous object and answer these questions. We couldn’t have wished for a better guide than Maximilien Durand, Director of the Louvre’s Department of Byzantine and Oriental Christian Art. I would like to thank him most sincerely for the enthusiasm and energy he has put into preparing this event. I’d also like to thank all the team who have supported him in this adventure. Mathilde Debelle at the Régie des œuvres handling the model just now. Valentine Gay, Emilie Declerc and Nayiri Tcharkhoutian in production. Johann Lesage and Cindy Raimond edit and direct. Mustapha Sephar and Sofiane Hebbache on camera. Alex Reboux and Nicolas Defeudis on sound. And Didier Degros on lighting. Thank you and I wish you all an excellent conference. During the sale organised by Million Riviera in Nice on Thursday 6 October 2022. The Louvre has acquired an exceptional model of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem for its new Department of Byzantine and Oriental Christian Art. It is made of olive wood inlaid with ivory, ebony and mother-of-pearl and was produced in the third quarter of the XVIIᵉ century. In Christian tradition, the shrine houses both the place of the crucifixion, Golgotha, also known as Calvary, and the place of the Resurrection, the tomb in which the Body of Christ was laid. Since the rediscovery by Saint Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, of the places illustrated by the Passion of Christ in Jerusalem at the beginning of the IVᵉ century and the construction of a monumental complex to magnify them. The sanctuary has known several states. The model shows the basilica built by the crusaders of the Frankish kingdom of Jerusalem in the XIIᵉ century and the first half of the XIIIᵉ century. When the model was made in the years 1665-1670, the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre still had the general structure of the Crusader church intact. The main changes in the modern period occurred after the great fire of 1808 and, in the 20th century, after the earthquake of 1927. The singular appearance of the building is the result of successive destructions and reconstructions. It is characterised by the combination of a rotunda, known as the Anastasis, meaning "Resurrection" in Greek, surmounted by a truncated cone-shaped dome rising above the Tomb of Christ, and a basilica, itself surmounted, at the intersection of the nave and the transept, by a second dome, which encompasses the places where the Passion took place, in particular Golgotha. Around this second dome, our model shows inscriptions in Latin : Oriens, Occidens, Meridies and Septentrio, indicating the cardinal directions. The rotunda of the Anastasis is located in the western part of the complex. It is surrounded by an annular ambulatory, forming a gallery on the upper floor. From the outside, you can make out the presence of three apsidioles along this ambulatory. The dome rests on a drum pierced by semi-circular openings. It is in the shape of a truncated cone and opens at the top through an oculus. To the east is a cruciform basilica. The nave and transept arms are clearly visible around the second dome. On the west side, the arm is shortened by the presence of the rotunda of the Anastasis and is limited to one bay, forming the transition between the two buildings. To the north, the transept arm backs onto a gallery known as the "Arch of the Virgin". Tradition has it that this is the path taken by Mary to visit her son’s tomb. Still to the north, flanking the rotunda of the Anastasis, is the chapel of the apparition of the risen Christ to Mary. This is the chapel of the Latin Catholics. Between the Anastasis and this chapel is the place of the apparition to Saint Mary Magdalene. On the other side of the "Arches of the Virgin" to the east is the Prison of Christ. Beneath the basilica’s dome, the "catholicon", the Greek Orthodox choir and apse, extend eastwards. Around the choir is an ambulatory punctuated by three apses. These correspond to the chapels of Saint-Longin (where Christ was stripped of his clothes), of the Division of Clothes and of the Impropers, i.e. the reproaches Jesus addressed to his people. The Calvary with the Rock of Golgotha is in the south-east corner. To the south is the forecourt leading to the sanctuary. To the right of the forecourt, next to the Rock of Golgotha, is a two-storey chapel known as the "Chapel of the Franks". A staircase allowed pilgrims to access the upper chapel to venerate the Rock of Golgotha, inside the basilica, even if it was closed or if they were unable to pay the entrance fee. It is dedicated to Our Lady of Seven Sorrows. On the ground floor, a lower chapel is dedicated to Saint Mary the Egyptian. The square is flanked on the west by a five-storey bell tower adjacent to the Anastasis. This bell tower was taller than the truncated cone-shaped dome of the rotunda. It is identified on the model by the Latin inscription "TVRRIS CAMPANAE", in English "bell-tower". The earthquake of 1545 toppled the upper sections, which were never rebuilt. Between the bell tower and the "Chapel of the Franks" lies the façade of the basilica. Two storeys of double arches correspond to the two entrance doors, itself surmounted by an upper gallery forming a "triforium" or tribune giving access to the upper gallery of the Anastasis. The door on the right was walled up in the XIIᵉ century after Saladin conquered Jerusalem and has not been reopened. The façade of the basilica, the campanile and the apse to the east are enlivened by colonnettes carved from ivory or ebony. Mother-of-pearl inlays enhance the architecture as a whole, highlighting its various parts and forming a pattern of crosses and fleurs-de-lys all over the model. The forecourt is decorated with a large Jerusalem cross. It is a potentate cross, framed by four smaller crosses of the same design. After the Crusades, it became the symbol of the Frankish kingdom of Jerusalem. It was above all adopted by the Franciscans of the Holy Land as their emblem. The five crosses symbolised the five wounds of Christ, left by the nails and the spear. They are also a reminder of the universality of the Gospel message. The four lateral crosses designate the cardinal points towards which the main cross radiates. The base of the bell tower is decorated with the trigram "IHS" surmounted by a cross and contained within a glory. Originally, this was the abbreviation of the Greek name of Jesus by the three letters iota, eta and sigma. Latin tradition recognises it as the acronym of the phrase "Iesus Hominum Salvator", "Jesus the Saviour of mankind". In the XVᵉ century, the Franciscan Saint Bernardine of Siena spread the trigram as a symbol of the Holy Name of Jesus, whose devotion he encouraged. The Franciscans adopted the trigram as one of their emblems from this period onwards. The presence of the Franciscans in the Holy Land dates back to the very foundation of the Order by Saint Francis of Assisi. In 1217, a General Chapter divided the Order into provinces, in a spirit of missionary evangelisation. The Province of the Holy Land, which included all the regions of the south-eastern Mediterranean, was created and the first religious, led by Brother Elijah of Cortona, disembarked at Saint-Jean-d’Acre. The province of the Holy Land, with the regions illustrated by the life of Christ, was immediately considered one of the most important for the Order. Saint Francis himself went there between 1219 and 1220. It was on this occasion that the Poverello of Assisi met the Ayyubid sultan al-Malik al-Kamil in Damietta, Egypt. Driven out of Jerusalem after the fall of Saint-Jean-d’Acre in 1291, the Franciscans were able to re-establish themselves there definitively in 1333. They obtained permission from the Mamluk sultan to found a convent at the Cenacle on Mount Sion and to officiate at the Holy Sepulchre, thanks to the support of the sovereigns of Naples, King Robert of Anjou and his wife Sanche, daughter of James I of Majorca. The foundation of the Custody of the Holy Land is generally dated to 1342, when Pope Clement VI legally recognised the religious order’s rights over the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the Aedicule of the Holy Sepulchre and the Cenacle, buildings ceded to the Franciscans by the Mamluk rulers. When Sultan Selim I seized Jerusalem in 1517, he recognised the rights acquired by the Franciscans over the Holy Places. However, under the reign of Soliman, the friars were forced to leave the monastery on Mount Sion. In 1560, they moved to the Monastery of the Holy Saviour, in the Christian quarter of the Old Town, which is still the seat of the Custody. The Custody is responsible for guarding the Holy Places, officiating according to the Latin rite, serving the country’s Christians and facilitating pilgrimages. The Franciscans of the Custody of Terre-Sainte are responsible for the creation of our model. Between the end of the XVIᵉ century and the first half of the XVIIᵉ century, they supported and developed local crafts. Jean Zuallart, who published a description of the Holy Land after a pilgrimage in 1586, noted that the inhabitants of Bethlehem offered pilgrims rosaries and wooden crosses made by them. In the decades that followed, the other pilgrims from the Holy Land who described Bethlehem all mentioned these craftsmen working with wood. From the beginning of the XVIIᵉ century, the Franciscans would encourage the Bethlehem craftsmen in this production. At the same time, they developed the working and cutting of mother-of-pearl, organising apprenticeships in the techniques and encouraging the creation of specialist workshops in Bethlehem and Jerusalem, and later in Aïn Karim. Under their direction, the devout production of Palestinian craftsmen reached an unprecedented level of specialisation and artistic quality. It played a central role in the economy of the village of Bethlehem, as all travellers noticed. The Franciscans bought large quantities , of these pious objects to sell or give as gifts, ensuring that they were distributed throughout the Catholic world. The wooden models of the holy places commissioned by the Franciscans are first mentioned in the second quarter of the XVIIᵉ century. In 1627, the Franciscan father Francesco de Seclì bought three wooden models of the Basilica of the Nativity, the Chapel of Calvary and the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre which he brought back to Italy. He placed them in the reliquary of his convent of Santa Maria di Casole in Copertino. They were not yet inlaid with mother-of-pearl at the time. Nine years later, in 1638, the Custos of the Holy Land sent the Bailiff of Venice "a model of the entire construction of the Most Holy Crib, with the main church of Bethlehem, made by our Georges, drogman". The drogman were local Christians who acted, among other things, as interpreters for the Franciscans. The religious began to order these precious models as gifts for the high-ranking members of the faithful whom they wished to distinguish and whose support they hoped would be forthcoming. The most accomplished are models for the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The first, which correspond to the shipment sent to the Bailiff of Venice, are rarer. There are a few surviving examples dating from the second half of the XVIIᵉ century, such as the one in the British Museum in London and the one in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence. More common are the models from the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. Around fifty are known worldwide, preserved in Austria, Brazil, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel and Palestine, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. They form a coherent whole produced between the second quarter of the XVIIᵉ century and the third quarter of the XVIIIᵉ century. The oldest dated copy was made in 1653. It was brought to Russia by the hieromonk Arsène Sukhanov, who had been sent to the Holy Land by the patriarch of Moscow, Nikon, to collect plans and architectural surveys of the Holy Sepulchre. They were used in the construction of the Church of the Resurrection at the New Jerusalem monastery, founded by Nikon in 1656 in Istra, some 60 kilometres west of Moscow. It has the characteristics to which models from the second half of the XVIIᵉ century, such as those in the Louvre, belong. Their dimensions are relatively standardised (they are no more than 45 cm long by 39 cm deep and 27 cm high). They are carved from olive wood. Yellowish-white pistachio wood was also used to carve certain details. The models feature a decorative repertoire of crosses, stylised flowers and cut mother-of-pearl rosettes inlaid into the wood. Vessels are cut into the olive wood to accommodate the inlay elements. These are set with pewter fillets, which sometimes subdivide the larger areas of decoration. A black paste, made from burnt bone and glue, holds the small marquetry elements together brings out the brilliance of the mother-of-pearl against a dark background. Elements carved from camelid bone highlight the details of the architecture. They are made of elephant ivory and ebony on the most precious models. To this first group belong the models preserved in Hattem, in the Netherlands, dated 1669, or in Copenhagen at the National Museum of Denmark, dated 1674. The model in the Louvre is enhanced with elephant ivory and ebony, indicating that it was reserved for a prestigious recipient. At the turn of the XVIIIᵉ century, the mother-of-pearl decoration was enriched, at the same time as the proportions of the models increased, as shown by the examples preserved at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg, or the Maximilianmuseum in Augsburg, for example. The models are larger, measuring around 62cm deep, 58cm square and 45cm high. The decoration includes plant scrolls and flower vases, now engraved on mother-of-pearl tablets, and the Franciscan symbols are more pronounced. The cross of Jerusalem and the trigram "IHS", seen here on the copy in the Musée Sainte-Croix in Poitiers, now form the coat of arms of the Franciscan order. The roof of the chapel of the Apparition to Mary also shows two intertwined arms in front of the Cross, the hand marked with a wound. The naked arm is that of Christ, the palm pierced by the nail of the Crucifixion, and the arm clothed in bure is that of Saint Francis of Assisi, stigmatised. This is the coat of arms of the Franciscan order known as the "Conformities". It is placed on the roof of the chapel used by the Franciscans at the Holy Sepulchre as a religious choir and conventual chapel. The models produced in the second quarter of the XVIIIᵉ century further accentuate this decorative character. They retained dimensions comparable to those at the beginning of the century, but were entirely covered in engraved mother-of-pearl. The talent of the craftsmen is displayed in the representation of the prophets of the Old Testament, the apostles in scenes from the Passion, Saint Helena and Franciscan saints, such as Saint John of Capistran, canonised in 1690 by Alexander VIII. This is shown by the most recent example identified to date, the model preserved in Cltheroe, England, in the collections of the Jesuit College of Stonyhurst. It bears the date 1760 and the Italian signature of the craftsman who made it, "Gioani Filio di Giuse", meaning "John, son of Joseph". The Italian signature is not surprising: The craftsmen employed by the Franciscans were also their drogmans, or interpreters. To ensure the perfect execution of these luxurious objects, the craftsmen had models provided to them by the Franciscans. These were architectural surveys carried out at the end of the XVIᵉ century by Brother Bernardino Amico. The latter was in the Holy Land between thirteen between 1593 and 1597. He held important positions in the Custody, at the convent of Bethlehem and at the Holy Sepulchre. He set about making the first systematic survey of the architecture of the holy sites, in particular the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. On his return to Europe, he entrusted his architectural surveys and plans to the engraver Antonio Tempesta in Rome, for publication in 1609 of his "Trattato delle Piante e Immagini dei Sacri Edificii di Terra Santa". In 1620, Friar Bernardino Amico republished this work, this time printed in Florence, with the addition of several plates. The treatise was dedicated to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Como II de’ Medici. The plates were entrusted to the French engraver Jacques Callot. The Edmond de Rothschild collection in the Louvre preserves all of these plates. Those relating to the Holy Sepulchre appear on the screen. It was probably after the Florentine edition that the Franciscans had the idea of making models of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre and the Basilica of the Nativity. Thanks to a plan by Brother Bernardino Amico, these models are extremely detailed, and, above all, very faithful to the configuration of the buildings. The use of an endoscopic camera now allows us to enter the basilica as a pilgrim would have done in the XVIIᵉ century. Once through the portal, pilgrims come face to face with the Anointing Stone, where Christ’s body was prepared for embalming. It appears here on the screen as it does today in the Holy Sepulchre, surrounded by the veneration of pilgrims. To its right is the Chapel of Calvary, built on two levels around the rock of Golgotha. The crucifixion site is on the upper floor. This is it. It overlooks the Anointing Stone, as the view on the screen shows. To the right of the stone are the tombs of the kings of Jerusalem, Godefroy de Bouillon and Baudouin I and their successors. Christian tradition also places Adam’s tomb on the lower floor of the Chapel of Calvary. Adam is the first man through whom original sin struck humanity. Symbolically, it stands at the foot of the cross of Christ, the New Adam, whose sacrifice redeemed us from original sin. The presence of Adam’s remains also gave the hill its name, Golgotha meaning "place of the skull" in Hebrew, translated into Latin by the word “Calvarius”: "Calvary". In front of the pilgrim, under the dome that marks the crossing of the nave and the transept, is the former choir of the Latin canons of the Holy Sepulchre, assigned to the Greek Orthodox when the spaces in the sanctuary were divided between the main Christian Churches. To the east, it leads to the iconostasis. This is a characteristic feature of Eastern liturgy, which erects a wall between the space reserved for the faithful and the choir where the sacrifice of the Mass takes place. In the middle of this space, tradition places the Omfalos: the centre of the world. It is marked on the floor, as you can see on the model, by a mother-of-pearl inlaid decoration surrounded by inscriptions. To the east, you can see the iconostasis surmounted by a cross. The Greek altar is located behind this iconostasis. The patriarch’s throne and the choir steps for the clergy. On the model, On the east side, above the Greek iconostasis, you can see, as you will soon see, a mother-of-pearl triangle with the name of God inscribed in Hebrew. Pilgrims heading north, beyond the heart of the Greeks, take the arches of the Virgin. To the east, he comes to the place where Mary Magdalene stood when Christ appeared to her. This is indicated by an inscription in French, which you can see on the left, in ink, in the model. Then you come to the chapel of the apparition of the risen Christ to his mother. Here you can see the liturgical fittings necessary for the celebration of the office by the Franciscan community, the stalls and the altar. The destination of the pilgrimage is obviously the tomb of Christ, located in the rotunda of the Anastasis. In this rotunda, you can see the ring-shaped ambulatory with its upper gallery forming a tribune surmounted by the drum of the dome, alternating blind arches and bays. The aedicula is shown in miniature in the model, as are the architectural details of the rotunda. We see here a singularity at the drum, two ivory statuettes representing the Risen Christ on the left and Saint Helena with the true Cross on the right, They never existed in the building of the Holy Sepulchre. These models should be seen as genuine devotional objects, comparable in some ways to the rosary that pilgrims bought in Bethlehem. They were intended to help the faithful remember each stage of Christ’s death and resurrection, in the same way as the pilgrimage to the basilica. In the spiritual context of the Catholic Counter-Reformation of the 17thᵉ century, meditation on Christ’s suffering and resurrection occupied a major place. The Imitation of Jesus Christ by Thomas a Kempis is reread, and the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola are practised assiduously. Both encourage meditation on the stages of the Passion. In this process of effectively remembering the sufferings of Christ. Pilgrims to Jerusalem began, from the end of the XVIᵉ century and the beginning of the XVIIᵉ century, to inscribe in their flesh the experience of their journey to the Holy Places. This is shown, for example, by this portrait of a French pilgrim to the Holy Land painted in the second half of the XVIIᵉ century and kept in a private collection. The young man, pointing through the open window with his right hand to the caravel that is taking her on this long and perilous journey, holds a document in his left hand. Only a few lines can be deciphered, but the Latin terms "Frater", "Ordinis", "Theologus", "Commissarius" and "Universis" can be recognised, which undoubtedly refers to the "incipit" of a pilgrimage diploma issued by the brother ("frater") Custos of the Holy Land, of the Franciscan order ("ordinis"), theologian ("theologus") and apostolic commissioner of the Holy Land and the East ("commissarius"), to all those who will see these present letters ("universis"). The Turnhout Beguinage Museum holds one such diploma, issued on 26 July 1684 to pilgrims Johann Steen of Leiden by the Custos of the Holy Land. It was given to him at the same time as a model of the Holy Sepulchre preserved in the same place. Our anonymous young man presents his pilgrimage diploma. He has also rolled up his sleeves to show off the tattoos that cover his forearms and which inscribe in his flesh his devotion to the Holy Places. On the right forearm is the Franciscan cross of Jerusalem, contained within a laurel wreath. It is accompanied by the inscriptions "IERVSALEM" and "BETHLEEM", as well as the star that guided the Magi to the Crib and their crowns. It is surmounted by the skull of Golgotha. It is also accompanied by Bernardino Amico’s plan of the Nativity grotto. On the left forearm, the tattoo indicates that the pilgrim visited Nazareth. The tattoo artist who officiated for the pilgrims are mentioned in all the accounts of the devotees of the XVIIᵉ century. They were the drogmans of the Custody, employed by the Franciscans. Tattooing, though outlawed by the church, was practised here in a desire to identify with the sufferings of Christ. The mark of the pilgrimage remained in the skin, like the wounds of the Passion, on the body of the risen Christ. This engraving, published in Hamburg, shows the tattoos on the forearms of pilgrim Ratge Stubbe in 1669. It shows the Jerusalem cross associated with the symbol of Bethlehem, Christ crucified on Golgotha, the Stone of Unction designated by the initials of the Latin phrase "Lapis Ubi Christus Fuit Unctus", i.e. the stone where Christ was anointed, the aedicule of the Holy Sepulchre with the risen Christ and the Ascension with the mark of Christ’s feet printed on the ground. In the same way that pilgrims’ tattoos can be seen symbolically as stigmata recalling Christ’s suffering and resurrection, the models also have a special status. In 1627, Father Francesco de Seclì placed the three models he had acquired in the reliquary of his convent in Copertino. For this reason, handling these models was an integral part of the act of remembrance and prayer. They can therefore be completely dismantled. As we have seen, the precision of the details is impressive. The interior spaces of the shrine are faithfully reproduced. Each stage of the pilgrimage is indicated by a number that refers to an explanatory legend, which unfortunately has not been preserved. It was based on the legend that appears on the 22ᵉ plate of the Bernardino Amico brothers’ treatise. On the screen, you can see number one marking the entrance to the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, number two indicating the bell tower, and number three designating the chapel of Saint Mary the Egyptian in the Chapel of the Franks. Devotees who handled the model could thus relive or experience the main stages of the Passion. Commemorated at the Holy Sepulchre. The trigram of Christ "IHS" at the base of the bell tower clearly shows the devout nature of the object. The Franciscans encouraged devotion to the name of Jesus through this monogram. If we follow the chronological order of the Passion, the first place sheltered by the basilica is the Prison of Christ, identified by the Latin inscription "Carcere Christi". A chapel near the prison gives access to it. A door opens to let it discover As we have seen, the ambulatory around the choir gives access to three chapels: the Chapel of the Impropers, where Christ was crowned with thorns, the chapel where he was stripped of his clothes, and the chapel where the Roman soldiers shared his clothes. These chapels are identified by ink inscriptions in French. The upper floor of the Calvary chapel shows the outcrop of the rock of Golgotha on which Christ’s cross stood. The location is marked in the model by the mother-of-pearl tablet engraved with the cross, accompanied by the basket containing the Crucifixion nails. On the lower level, where Adam’s tomb is located, are the tombs of the kings of Jerusalem. From the Franks’ chapel, you can see the rock of Golgotha from the outside, and after climbing the steps leading to the chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows, you can see the small chapel of Saint Mary the Egyptian on the ground floor. The southern arm of the transept houses the first item venerated by pilgrims entering the basilica: the Stone of Unction. It is identified by the Latin inscription "Locum Unctionis Iesu Christi". On this stone, the body of Christ was prepared and anointed with spices before The Entombment Under the dome. In the middle of the Greek choir is the omphalos, the centre of the world, indicated on the model by the Italian inscription "Buco che si dice essere mezzo mundi", "place said to be the centre of the world". In the north arm, In the north arm, The mother-of-pearl decoration shows the monogram of the Virgin crowned and accompanied by the crescent moon of the Immaculate Conception. It is located near the "Arches of the Virgin". The eastern arm is decorated with rosettes. Christ’s tomb is located in the centre of the rotunda of the Anastasis. It is housed in an aedicula that was restored in 1555 on the initiative of the Custos, Father Boniface of Ragusa, to repair the damage caused by the earthquake of 1545. The aedicula is shown in miniature in the model. Its roof can also be removed to reveal the Tomb of Christ. Then there are the places where Christ appeared after his resurrection, to his mother and to Saint Mary Magdalene. The largest chapel is the site of the apparition to Mary. The adjacent chapel is where the « Noli me tangere » episode is said to have taken place, when Saint Mary Magdalene recognised the risen Christ, whom she had initially mistaken for a gardener. It is accessible here through a trapdoor that can be operated by a small string. These two chapels are entrusted to the care of the Catholic Church, since the different Christian denominations share the management of the areas within the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. So it was found, Around the rotunda of the Anastasis is the Abyssinian chapel, followed by the Syriac chapel. This leads to the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. The Jewish dignitaries who had taken part in Christ’s burial, Joseph of Arimathea had gone to Pontius Pilate to claim Jesus’ body and he had offered the tomb that he had intended for his own burial to give him a burial. Tradition has it that he then had himself buried in another cave nearby, not far from Nicodemus, also a member of the Sanhedrin, whom he had helped during the descent from the cross and the burial. Once the model had been dismantled, devotees were able to recall each stage of Christ’s death and resurrection. A second model accompanied the main model, reproduced on a larger scale, the aedicula of the Holy Sepulchre, which forms the heart of the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It can also be dismantled to reveal Christ’s tomb and, in front of it, the vestibule where, according to tradition, the angel who announced the Resurrection to the Holy Women stood. A parchment inscribed in ink gives, in French, the legend: "Vray Portraict du Saint Sépulcre de Jésus Christ". Another handwritten indication under the roof of the aedicula indicates the presence of three air vents for the evacuation of smoke from forty-four silver lamps burning permanently at Christ’s tomb. A third parchment stuck under the aedicula gives in Latin the 10ᵉ verse from the 11ᵉ Book of Isaiah announcing the glory of the Resurrection. On that day, the root of Jesse, father of David, will be raised as a standard for the peoples, the nations will seek her and glory will be her home". The presence of this second model enabled devotees to focus their prayers on the holiest place in the basilica. A model of the Aedicule of the Holy Sepulchre often accompanies models of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. They were both contained in the same box for transport and preservation. Exceptionally the original box of the Louvre model has been preserved. It is the only copy known to date. Made of wood, it adopts the exact shape of the model of the Basilica and the model of the Aedicule of the Holy Sepulchre, which complement it and are arranged along the arches of the Virgin. It is lined with crimson brushed wool and sheathed in leather, painted in trompe-l’oeil and tortoiseshell. The overall effect is one of great technical mastery, making this an exceptional object. This preciosity was confirmed by the in-depth examination carried out on the object during its restoration by Delphine Élie-Lefèbvre, a restorer specialising in furniture, Anaïs Leclerc, conservator specialising in composite materials, Axelle Deleau, conservator specialising in graphic arts. Célia Thibaud, conservator specialising in textiles, and Camille Alembik, conservator specialising in organic materials. This is the top of the model. You have olive wood that forms the structure and all the small architectural elements. Then you have a decoration with mother-of-pearl, pewter fillets, ivory and ebony. These are all noble materials and the quality of the workmanship is quite impressive. There are some structural problems, as you can see from the deformations and cracks. In fact, we have to stabilise before putting these various elements back into place. Here, we’ve made a clamping frame. So it’s a question of being able to put very localised pressure points on the areas we want to glue back together. We’ll also be able to work on the marquetry and the cracks. Right now, we’re in the middle of clamping, which means that we’ve just injected some glue into the unstable cracks in the structure and we’ve come to fetch it so that the gluing is flush and effective. But that’s not bad, is it? So here, you’ll see that some mother-of-pearl elements are missing. Which we’ve decided to restore. We’re going to identify what’s missing and make it using laser cutting. The laser cutting process. We start by making a drawing, i.e. a measurement on the piece of furniture or on the model, for example. After that, we have to draw a vector line to enable the laser cutting printer to cut exactly along the line. Delphine sends me graphic elements. I was able to use the scan and really zoom in to make a fairly precise outline. So that gives a drawing which is then sent to the printer. And that guides the cutting. The laser is a plus, I’d say, because it can give you very good readability. In other words, you won’t be able to see it at all from a distance. But when you get closer and study it a bit more with a magnifying glass, for example, you can see very clearly that it wasn’t the same tool that cut it. So there’ll be no doubt that they’re not original parts, but replacements. The laser cuts straight, but it can’t make oblique cuts. So, like here, it was man’s gesture. We go back a bit and it gives a bit of relief. The white mother-of-pearl used in the model is 0.4 mm, 0.7 mm and 1.1 mm thick. Mother-of-pearl pieces, there’s nothing to see, I don’t know at 500 – 600. It’s enormous. If you can see how small it is. And this is the original. And we can see that this ancient mother-of-pearl is already disintegrating. It’s weakened. There’s a varnish that’s been applied, probably a recent varnish, that’s very dirty and so it’s affecting the readability. So we’re going to remove it. The cleaning period is an important time because it’s when you’re very close to all the little elements and you can see things you didn’t see before. And so it was an opportunity. At that moment, during the cleaning, particularly in the tomb of the great dome, the tomb of Christ. At the very bottom, there’s a small mother-of-pearl piece that was very dirty. And when the dirt was removed, one of the writings that forms part of the numbered circuit that runs the length of the model was brought back to the fore. So we updated one of the elements that was listed among the others on the model. It’s an object of devotion, so it’s really an object for which the person could pray by going almost with their eyes, in any case into the rooms, and move around since almost all the rooms are visible either from above or through little hatches that you lift. So there’s a real possibility, I’d say, of getting around. And I don’t know if Axelle showed you, but in any case, in the hollow of the base of the box, there was a space. So the trap door disappeared. But there was a space where there should have been a written document, but that no longer exists. This box is made up of two parts, as you can see. There’s a base, which is the lower part that holds the model, and the lid, which covers the model. The box is made of wood. Delphine explained that it’s made of poplar. So it’s a wood that’s both light and quite flexible. Then this wooden structure was covered with leather in several pieces to adapt to the different shapes. The leather is decorated with a material that creates a tortoiseshell pattern. The gaps in the leather are consolidated, as are the holes that have been caused by xylophagous insects, and in general, when a new acquisition is made and an attack is suspected, an anoxia treatment is carried out to make sure not only that the work is safeguarded, to eradicate the infestation within the work itself, but also to protect the collections within the museum. It had to be tanned with alum, because we identified alum in our analyses. After that, to have a leather that perfectly matches the wood structure, it had to be a very fine hide and not necessarily an adult, but rather calf or lamb. We’re not creators at all, we’re really people who are here to consolidate and pass on. We remain committed to the beauty of the original décor. The special feature of the model of the Louvre is the fleur-de-lis pattern that decorates the forecourt, the façade of the basilica, the campanile, the Chapel of the Franks, the Chapel of Calvary, the roof of the ambulatory of the Anastasis, the domes of the rotunda and the Basilica of the Crosses, and the roofs of the transept and choir. No other surviving model features a fleur-de-lys design. It seems to have a heraldic significance here. By comparison, three other models also feature heraldic decoration. The first is the model preserved in Lisbon at the ducal palace of Vila Viçosa. In it, the coats of arms of the Kingdom of England used by the Stuarts can be accurately seen. The year the model was made is shown at the top: 1661 The presence of a date included in the inlaid decoration on a model is quite exceptional: in this case, it commemorates a special event the marriage of the Infanta of Portugal, Catherine of Braganza, to the King of England, Charles II Stuart. A second model with heraldic decoration is kept in the convent of the Congregation of the Hierosolomitan Sisters of Saint Ursula, in Valletta. It is more profusely decorated with mother-of-pearl than its predecessors. This enrichment of the decoration means that it can be dated to the early XVIIIᵉ century. Christ blessing and the twelve apostles adorn the rim of the Anastasis. The instruments of the Passion are drummed and scenes from the Passion of Christ occupy the roofs of the transept crossing. The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Portugal can be seen at the base of the bell tower. The coat of arms can be linked to King John V of Portugal. The gifts granted by the latter to the Holy Sepulchre (estimated at over 200,000 cruzados in gold) no doubt explain why a model was sent to the sovereign. Among these gifts a pontifical ornament in chased velvet, crimson, silver lamé and gold braid, bearing the arms of Portugal. It includes a chasuble, two dalmatics, a cope with stoles, the three maniples, the chalice veil, the corporal burse, as well as a humeral veil and an antepedium. The third model with heraldic decoration is kept at the Geistliche Schatzkammer in Vienna. As on the previous one, the abundance of mother-of-pearl indicates production in the mid-18ᵉ century. This is the largest example known to date, measuring 76 cm by 62 cm and 42 cm high. A rich work of engraving adorns the entire building The entire building is richly engraved with floral motifs, figures of the prophets of the Old Testament, Saint Helen covering the True Cross, Archangel and Franciscan saints, as well as scenes from the Passion. The square is decorated with the Habsburg coat of arms. The base of the bell tower is also adorned with portraits of the imperial family, Francis Iᵉʳ of the Holy Roman Empire, Maria Theresa of Austria and little Joseph, the future Emperor Joseph II. These portraits were inspired by the works of Martin Van Meytens, which were distributed through engraving. The portrait of Little Joseph in Hungarian costume represents a painting kept at Schönbrunn Palace The unique presence of these portraits, like the dimensions of the model and its abundant decoration, probably denotes the desire to emphasise the Habsburg emperors’ special link with the Custody. The gifts of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis Iᵉʳ to the Holy Sepulchre are significant. In addition to precious liturgical ornaments, the most remarkable of these is the sanctuary lamp attributed to the goldsmith Joseph Moser, which was given as a gift by Maria Theresa and Francis Iᵉʳ in 1759. Made of solid gold, it is chased on the three sides of the vase supporting the nightlight with representations of the Nativity, the Resurrection and the Ascension. The flamethrower is surmounted by the eagle with the wings of the Habsburgs. The fleur-de-lis decoration on the model in the Louvre no doubt indicates that, like its predecessors, it was made in gratitude for gifts granted by the kingdom of France to the Holy Sepulchre. The Bourbon kings, Louis XII and Louis XIV in particular, mobilised the Court and the kingdom for donations of cash and precious objects. On several occasions, he sent sumptuous personal consignments, which are preserved by the Custody of the Holy Land in the Sancta Museum in Jerusalem. The "Most Christian Kings" had made the protection of Christian interests in Palestine one of the stated arguments of the Franco-Ottoman Alliance. In 1654, Louis XIV sent the Custos of the Holy Land a gilded silver crosier set with faceted stones, tables and cabochons. The nearly two-metre-long floriated shaft supports a bow in the shape of an aedicule with twisted columns, where the effigy of SaintLouis is standing, holding the crown of thorns and the nails of the Passion. Ten years later, in 1664, Louis XIV sent a gilded silver chalice. On the foot and chiselled the figure of Saint Louis amidst fleurs-de-lys with the arms of France and Navarre. The knot is adorned with effigies of Christ, Saint Anthony of Padua and Saint Francis of Assisi appear in niches. On the false cup appear the scenes of the Flagellation, Crucifixion and Resurrection. The inscription "LUDOVICUS. DECIMUS. QUARTUS" and the date 1664 are chiselled on the inside of the foot along with the royal shield bearing the arms of France and Navarre. The figure of Saint Louis is richly decorated with fleurs-de-lys. It is accompanied by a silver paten chased with the scene of the Assumption. All three items were made by the Parisian silversmith Nicolas Dolin, who worked from 1648 to 1684. The model, now in the Louvre, was probably sent to Louis XIV, King of France, by the Custos in gratitude for his donations. This is also suggested by the mention of a "modelle de bois avec marqueterie d’ébeine, yvoire et nacre de perle, quy représente l’église du Saint-Sépulcre de Hyérusalem" reported in the Journal du Garde-Meuble on 17 February 1673 in a "état de quelques meubles trouvés à Versailles" which has yet to be recorded. If it is indeed the same model, there can be little doubt, Nothing is known of its modern history between its mention in the royal collections at Versailles and its reappearance in 1874 in a private collection. We can assume that the King gave it to a religious establishment. Preserved from destruction during the French Revolution, it probably remained in private hands. However, it did reappear at the 1874 exhibition of religious art in Lille. The exhibition catalogue lists it as number 2492, with the name of the owner who loaned it for the event. Julien Jourdain, Count of Thieulloy, lived at the Château de Bacouel-sur-Selle, near Amiens. A great promoter of devotion to the Holy Sepulchre, he was vice-president of the Bureau of the Caravan of Forty Pilgrims which, for the first time in many years, led a group of French pilgrims to Jerusalem in 1853. Among them was the Count de Thieulloy’s own nephew, Philippe de Gillès. It is not known when Julien de Thieulloy acquired the model and its box. However, a handwritten label inside the model reads: "To be given to Philippe de Gillès after my death". The model was therefore passed on in 1892 to his nephew Philippe de Gillès, who died in 1905. His son Arthur de Gillès bequeathed it to his son Christian, who passed it on to his son Philippe. It was the latter’s widow who offered the model for sale, enabling the Louvre to acquire it by pre-emption. Analyses carried out on the Louvre’s model during its restoration have revealed the refinement of its execution. Research into the model’s history, and undoubtedly its royal provenance, has made it an exceptional object. The study carried out on all the preserved models has finally revealed the devotional use of these astonishing productions. With this “Œuvre en scène”, we have been able to explore this exceptional model in a new way and see with it that, perhaps for the devotee of the XVIIᵉ century, « God hides well in the details ».