Crowning Wisdom: Bohemia's Thorn

The crown of Bohemia is displayed in the large church at Prague Castle. It is the fourth oldest crown in Europe and is unusual for having four large, fleur-de-lys at each side with sunken arches connecting them to a cross without a central monde. This golden cross is said to have inside it a thorn from Christ’s prickly crown. Even if we believed that such thorns were truly available to buy and sell in the Middle Ages, we might still question the irony of coating such an object in gold. The Lord Jesus’ crown of thorns bespoke His deep humiliation and the appalling horrors of His Passion; crowns of gold and precious stone usually depict their wearers’ pride and self-exaltation.

Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands. John 19:1-3