Gero Cross

It was commissioned by Gero, Archbishop of Cologne, who died in 976, thus providing a terminus ante quem for the work.

However, this piece puts extra emphasis on the suffering of Jesus Christ's crucifixion, with the slumped head, lifeless body, and closed eyes.

In crucifixions of the Gothic period, a still more slumped and curved figure of Christ, with knees bent sideways, was to become the standard depiction.

Cologne became one of the most important churches in Europe for religious pilgrimages, containing not only the Gero Cross, but also the Magi reliquary and the Madonna of Milan.

[9] The beam and the corpus are original; however, the gold sun and the marble altar it stands in were donated in 1683 by Canon Heinrich Mering.

[4] Contrary to long-held tradition, the studies in 1976 revealed that there is no space in the back of the head to place relics.

[11] According to the Luccan local histories, the Holy Face of Lucca in Italy is considerably older, though that sculpture had to be recreated in the Gothic period after being nibbled away by pilgrims, which makes this claim difficult to verify by art historians.

[12] A replica of the crucifix hangs in the St. Alphonsus Chapel located in the Alphonse J. Schwartze Memorial Catholic Center in Jefferson City, Missouri.