History
Tradition says that the primitive, undecorated wooden core of this cross was carried against the Muslims of al-Andalus by King Pelagius of Asturias at the Battle of Covadonga. The cross would later be kept by his son Favila of Asturias in the Church of Santa Cruz de Cangas de Onís erected by Favila and his wife Froiluba in 737and dedicated to True Cross in Cangas de Onís, the first capital of the Kingdom of Asturias. The ornate casing, similar to that upon the Cross of the Angels, was added later, and contains 152 gems and imitation gems. An inscription tells us that this casing was made at the Castle of Gauzón in Asturias in 908. Alfonso III donated this important Pre-Romanesque gold artifact to Cathedral of Oviedo to commemorate a hundred years of the Asturian kingdom's victories and conquests.
During the Spanish Civil War, the Cross, like the rest of the artifacts in the Cámara Sancta, suffered serious damages which required its restoration.
The Victoria Cross recovered its gems from 1942 on, thanks to popular donations for the acquisition and restoration of the relic. However, the work of goldsmiths Horacio Rivero Alvarez and Luis Aguilar did not consider the original design, altering the position of the medallion on both fronts. In 1971 new enamels were placed by German goldsmith Werner Henneberger, but here again the original design was not taken sufficiently into account.
On August 9, 1977, the Cross, together with Agate box and the Cross of the Angels, were stolen and suffered serious damage after the thieves torn their precious stones and gold plating. Its current appearance is the result of careful reconstruction carried out in 1978.
Read more about this topic: Victory Cross
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature.”
—Henry James (1843–1916)
“I am ashamed to see what a shallow village tale our so-called History is. How many times must we say Rome, and Paris, and Constantinople! What does Rome know of rat and lizard? What are Olympiads and Consulates to these neighboring systems of being? Nay, what food or experience or succor have they for the Esquimaux seal-hunter, or the Kanaka in his canoe, for the fisherman, the stevedore, the porter?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“No cause is left but the most ancient of all, the one, in fact, that from the beginning of our history has determined the very existence of politics, the cause of freedom versus tyranny.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)