The Lotharkreuz of Aachen Cathedral

Located in the Aachen Cathedral Treasury (Aachener Domschatzkammer) is a stunning crux gemmata (bejewelled cross), the processional Cross of Lothair, or Lotharakreuz, named after the ninth century Carolingian king, Lothair II. Despite the naming, this cross was actually made circa A.D. 1000, almost a century after Lothair's death, but the reason for the naming is simply due to the fact that the processional cross has a large rock crystal which bears his name and image upon it. 

This beautiful and ornate processional cross comes out of the Ottonian Renaissance, a period of pre-Romanesque art found in this region which took its inspiration from late antique and Byzantine art. 

In terms of its construction, the cross has an oak core that has been encased in gold and silver, which in turn has then been encrusted with various gemstones and pearls, as well as being decorated with filigree and enamels. Included amongst the gemstones are various examples of late antique spolia, such as a cameo of the Roman Emperor, Augustus, a depiction of the Three Graces, and others; these have been repurposed here, much in the way that churches will sometimes repurpose architectural elements from classical buildings, putting them into new ecclesiastical purposes. Some scholars also speculate that the inclusion of the prominent cameo of the Emperor Augustus may have been done as a way to visibly link the Ottonian rulers with the Roman emperors, while other antique images were explicitly re-interpreted to give them an explicitly Christian identification. 

The repurposed onyx cameo of the Emperor Augustus

Filigree and enamel work

The image of King Lothair from whence the cross takes its name. The inscription reads, "O Christ, Help King Lothair“

Another bit of repurposed spolia from classical antiquity. The purple stone in the centre shows a tiny, intricate carving of the "Three Graces"

The other side of the processional cross includes a plain engraved image of the crucifixion and it includes such details as the hand of God the Father shown holding a wreath of victory, as well as an early image of the Holy Spirit depicted in the form of the dove. At the base of the cross we find serpent, representing Satan, while the arms of the cross include images of the personification of the sun and the moon -- perhaps representing the beginning and the end.  

Some have interpreted the two distinct types of imagery found on either side of the cross as being representative of the Church and the State, and there is some thought that the crucifixion imagery may actually be the side of the cross that was facing forward when carried in procession, while the bejewelled side (the side representing the State) was that side which faced the Holy Roman Emperors when they followed the cross behind in processions. 

Our readers may also be pleased to hear that this processional cross is still occasionally used in processions today, such as on high feast days when it is carried in procession into the Cathedral of Aachen where it is placed next to the main altar during mass.

The processional cross in use during a pilgrimage of relics in 1955

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