This marlstone capital from 1261 has exceptional artistic and documentary value. For more than 700 years it was preserved intact in the masonry of the church like a sacred stone (lapis vivus). It was discovered in 1984 in the scansion of the southern window in the polygonal apse of the Church of the Holy Saviour. Judging from the shape of the back, the cluster of shafts was meant for the polygonal apse. Mugwort (artemisia vulgaris) is a powerful medicinal herb believed to repel the devil and help prevent snake bite. Its fleshy leaves appear frequently on the western wall of the cathedral in Reims and on both wings of the western rood screen in Naumburg, in the middle of which hangs crucified Christ.