The Priceless Imperial Treasury

The Imperial Treasury, located in Hofburg Palace (Vienna), holds priceless national and historical relics of the Holy Roman and Austro-Hungarian Empires. It comes from the ancestral medieval treasuries of the Habsburg dynasty, and contains one of the most important world collections.

Hofburg Palace was the winter residence of the Austrian Habsburgs and the main seat of the imperial court in Vienna. Now it is the residence of the President of Austria.

To get to the treasury one should pass through the Swiss Court.

During the reign of the Habsburgs a huge collection of relics served as a proof of their "divine" power. In those days, the treasury was the personal property of the monarch.

The treasury contains about two dozen rooms. The collections are divided into parts: secular and spiritual.  

The mantle of Emperor Francis I Stephen. The second quarter of the 18th century.

The mantle of the Austrian Kaiser. The second quarter of the 18th century.

The cradle of Napoleon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte (the Roman King, Napoleon II), the son of Napoleon Bonaparte.

A fragment of the crown of the Hungarian nobleman Istvan Bocskai.

The crown of the Holy Roman Empire (also the crown of Charles the Great) was made in the second half of the 10th century. All the emperors wore it until the early 17th century. An octagonal gold crown is adorned with 144 precious stones and pearls.

A copy of a portrait of Charles the Great in the Imperial Crown (Albrecht Dürer, the original one is exhibited in the German National Museum in Nuremberg).

The Imperial Crown of Rudolf II, later the Crown of the Austrian Empire. The beginning of the 17th century. Gold, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, spinel, pearls, velvet.

A scepter comes with the crown.

The Orders of the Golden Fleece (German: Orden vom Goldenen Vlies), founded by Philip III the Good, the Duke of Burgundy, in 1430. One of the oldest and most prestigious awards in Europe.

Some more photos of priceless exhibits.

via gavailer