Tour 4: The Imperial Treasury and the Imperial Crown

back to: Social program

The Imperial Treasury located in Vienna's Imperial Palace features both the Secular and the Ecclesiastical Treasuries. It is one of the most important treasuries in the world and the home to two imperial crowns: The "Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" (created in the second half of the 10th century, used to crown the empire's emperors) and the "Austrian Imperial Crown" (manufactured in 1602 for Emperor Rudolf II). Among the many unique exhibits, further highlights are the Burgundian treasure and the treasure of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Visitors are deeply impressed by the countless art treasures and most important symbols of European history.

Despite the uniqueness of the crown, numerous questions about the used gems, the processed materials, the manufacturing technique, the dating, and the early history remained unanswered thus far. The Imperial Crown – invaluable both idealistically and materially - is currently being investigated as an interdisciplinary and internationally project of the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Art History Museum). Also scientists of the "Institut für Mineralogie und Kristallographie" are involved. Thus, during the tour you have the unique possibility to receive first hand information on the currently performed extensive investigations with modern but non-contacting techniques and preliminary results.

As hand-held Raman instruments with high accuracy are available now, detailed spectroscopic investigations and documentations of all the 127 gemstones of the crown are possible for the first time. The last investigation dates back to 1977 but at that time only very limited investigations were possible. Surprisingly, the large red spinel was heat-treated to improve its color - this makes it the oldest spinel on which such a treatment could be proved so far.

back to: Social program