Are you planning to see the Crown of Thorns at the Notre-Dame de Paris? Be prepared for others wanting the same view. Jostling with other smartphone imagers can be challenging in Notre-Dame de Paris. If you stay in one spot too long, one or two people can become verbally aggressive about rights. If you are short and want to video a procession, best find your spot early.
Tips from My Experience
Here are some tips from my recent experiences. The best view the glass gold disc for a direct shot of the chapel is to the left of the pillar. This pillar is directly in front of the gold disc in the axial chapel.
To see the procession begin, position yourself across from the red door to the Sacristy on the south aisle. The door opens at 3 p.m. for the veneration procession of the crown of thorns. Both areas, the chapel and the sacristy area will be closed off by a belt barrier. Photos can only be taken from behind the belt barrier.
Visit the Notre-Dame de Paris website for current details. The dates will change each year. https://www.notredamedeparis.fr/en/pray/services-masses/veneration-crown-thorns/ For 2025, every Friday, from January 10 to April 18, 2025 (Good Friday 2025) you can attend the veneration ceremony 3:00 to 5:00 pm in the nave. A special line is designated outside the cathedral for those attending either mass or the veneration (with or without a reservation).
Starting in May 2025, the veneration for the public occurs on the first Friday of each month. This act of devotion involves prayer, watching, and sitting, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. The veneration is then followed by Vespers at 5:30 p.m. The liturgical calendar changes annually. Visit the Notre-Dame de Paris website for the next year’s veneration dates.
What I experienced
One Friday I was on a mission to find out more about the Crown of Thorns at Notre-Dame de Paris. When can you see it? By coincidence, I was at the cathedral on the first day the relic would be seen by the public.
However, I was too early in the day to see the procession. I had only gone to the cathedral website to reserve tickets. Tickets were available. The procession was later in the day.
A week later I went back to look at the new tapestries. I was prepared for the 3 p.m. start time. This time, tickets were no longer available for Friday or Saturday. Not to be deterred, I went through the no reservations line.
Waiting at the axial chapel behind the altar, nothing was happening for the service. Photos can only be taken behind the black belt barrier; not in the chapel area.
Asking a security guard why nothing was happening, he said to go over to the sacristy for 3 p.m.
Stand Behind the Belt Barrier
Phone image takers move around a lot. I faced the red sacristy door. Taking one step at a time, I was soon in the front row behind the belt barrier that had been put up moments before.
Once the barrier goes up, there is no more flow on the south aisle. Once the procession moves to the central aisle, movement along the south aisle begins again.
At 5 p.m. sharp, all movement from the sides and area of the axial chapel stops. It is very eerie to go from a crowd to emptiness. Even the security guards are shuffled away.
The crown of thorns relic is placed inside the marble altar safe. The luminous gold disc backed with cedar wood dominates the altar. A fragment of the wood of the cross and a crucifixion nail are also housed in the altar.
The Men in White and Women in Black
The procession I experienced began with men wearing white capes with red crosses. Two were holding tall candle sticks. Another was swinging the Guillaume Bardet-designed incense burner.
Out came the procession of men and women. The white capes bear the emblem of the Knights of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. Women of the same order wear black capes with the emblem, wearing black veils and long black full-skirted dresses.
Click on the image to download the Notre-Dame de Paris application for your phone.
The 1896 Eugène-Emmnauel Viollet-le-Duc-designed reliquary rests on a red plush pillow. The relic holder is a crystal and gold tube.
It is covered with an openwork frame to resemble a branch of Ziziphus spina-christi. This shrub was used for the crown thorns.
For more history
Relics of the passion – Notre-Dame de Paris website
Descriptions of the cathedral furnishings