Imperial Treasury

The Imperial Treasury (German: Kaiserliche Schatzkammer) is a museum in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria, housing a valuable collection of secular and ecclesiastical treasures covering over a thousand years of European history. Affiliated with the Kunsthistorisches Museum, it preserves objects of the highest dynastic and religious significance compiled by the Imperial House of Habsburg over centuries. The collection is presented in 21 rooms and is divided into two main sections: the secular collection and the ecclesiastical collection. Formerly known as the Secular and Ecclesiastical Treasury, the Kunsthistorisches Museum has called it the Imperial Treasury since 2012.

The collections were established from 1556 by the scholar Jacopo Strada, whom Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I brought from Nuremberg as his court antiquarian and administrator. At that time, the imperial collections were thoroughly mixed, and the separation into paintings, art crafts, religious objects, and insignia was only undertaken in the mid-eighteenth century under Maria Theresa. She had the Habsburg crown treasures separated from the rest of the collections and moved to their present location in the Hofburg, a relocation that potentially served to obscure the fact that parts of the Habsburg art chamber had been sold or minted to finance her expensive wars against Prussia. The Imperial Regalia of the Holy Roman Empire arrived in Vienna around 1800, having been moved from Nuremberg and Aachen to Regensburg in 1796 to protect them from advancing French troops under Napoleon. After the Austrian Anschluss of 1938, Nazi authorities took the regalia back to Nuremberg, exhibiting them in the Katharinenkirche. They were returned to Vienna by US forces after World War II, going back on display in 1954. The museum display was completely renovated between 1983 and 1987.

The museum is divided into a secular collection and an ecclesiastical collection. The secular collection contains numerous imperial artifacts from the House of Habsburg, including jewels and precious stones that, due to their unique size, could not be fitted into the imperial crowns. Like all secular treasuries, it was designed to attest to the political power and geographical reach of its owners. The ecclesiastical collection contains numerous religious treasures, including relics, devotional images, and altars, mostly from the Baroque era, as well as objects ascribed to the private ownership of saints. The secular collection is further organized thematically, with rooms dedicated to the Habsburgs' roles as archdukes of Austria, Holy Roman Emperors, and emperors of Austria, alongside family heirlooms and order treasuries.

The secular collection features the Imperial Regalia of the Holy Roman Empire, including the Imperial Crown, the Holy Lance, and the Imperial Sword. The Austrian Crown Jewels include the personal crown of Emperor Rudolf II, which became the Imperial Crown of Austria in 1804, accompanied by a sceptre and globus cruciger. Other significant items include the regalia of the Archduchy of Austria with the archducal hat casing made for the coronation of King Joseph II in 1764, and the coronation vestments of Emperor Ferdinand I as King of Lombardy-Venetia in 1838. The Burgundian Treasury, part of the dowry of Mary the Rich at her 1477 wedding to Archduke Maximilian I, and the treasury of the Order of the Golden Fleece from the heritage of Duke Charles the Bold are also held here. Two objects are known as the inalienable heirlooms of the House of Austria: a giant narwhal tooth thought to be the horn of a unicorn (Ainkhurn) and a Late Antiquity agate bowl thought to be the Holy Grail. Additional highlights include the crown of Transylvanian prince Stephen Bocskay, one of the world's largest emeralds, and Napoleonica artifacts of Napoleon II and Marie Louise.

The Imperial Treasury is located in the Schweizertrakt, the oldest part of the Hofburg Palace. The entrance is situated at the Schweizerhof, or Swiss Courtyard, which was rebuilt in the sixteenth century in the Renaissance style under Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. The original wrought-iron entrance door bearing the monogram of Emperor Charles VI still exists, though it is no longer used as the primary entrance. Following a reorganization of the treasury between 1952 and 1954, the public access point was moved to the Schweizerhof. Previously, during the late nineteenth century, the public entrance was located under the dome of the Michaelertrakt.

With the end of the monarchy in 1918, the treasury lost its political purpose and became a purely museum institution, managed as a department of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. In the chaotic days of November 1918, Emperor Charles I ordered the removal of jewels he considered private property of the Habsburg-Lorraine family, including the famous Florentine Diamond and Empress Elisabeth's brilliant crown, which were transported to Switzerland by Count Leopold Berchtold. The new Austrian government demanded restitution based on wartime export bans and the Habsburg Law, but abandoned this claim in 1921. When the exhibition reopened in 1928 under Director Arpad Weixlgartner, it included objects previously withheld for political reasons, such as the insignia of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia and possessions of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico. The institution continues to operate as a public museum within the Kunsthistorisches Museum system.