It was a really nice experience being able to attend Sunday morning mass service at Notre Dame. The choir was delightful and their heavenly voices really echoed through the whole church.
A little entrance fee of 2.50 Euros also gets you into the prized treasury of Notre Dame. In the treasury are displayed vestments and gold objects, including crowns. Exhibited is a cross presented to Haile Selassie, former emperor of Ethiopia, and a reliquary given by Napoleon. Notre-Dame is especially proud of its relics of the True Cross and the Crown of Thorns.
As expected, there is many priceless and gold filled artifacts since many of these were offerings to the church by the different Kings of Europe. But the items that intrigued me the most were the letters and the hand scripted books. Beautiful calligraphy in an era where attention to detail was such an art! It was so gorgeous!
The holy crown of thorns, the very same one that was placed on Jesus head before it was crucified can be seen here but only at 4.45pm on each Friday of lent and the first Friday of every month for the rest of the year.
