St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Fortress, the seat of Czech kings, holds a priceless treasure: the Bohemian crown jewels which had been used within the coronations of the nation’s monarchs. The crown jewels are saved in a particular chamber, which is secured with seven locks to which the nation’s high officers have the keys. The gathering is barely displayed on uncommon events. In the midst of the twentieth century is was solely proven to the general public 9 occasions.
The crown jewels embody the crown of Saint Wenceslas, the royal orb and sceptre, the coronation vestments of the kings of Bohemia, a gold reliquary cross, and the sword of St. Wenceslas. The crown was made for the coronation of Charles IV in 1347, making it the fourth oldest in Europe. The royal orb and sceptre date again to the sixteenth century. It’s believed that the originals, which lacked any valuable stones, had been thought-about too austere to adequately replicate the status of the Kingdom of Bohemia, so that they had been later changed by artefacts made in an ornate, jewelled model that resembled the crown.
The royal crown is produced from 22-carat gold and weighs near 2.5 kilos. Petr Kroupa, who heads the Division of Heritage Safety at Prague Fortress, describes the treasure.
“The crown consists of a headdress, which consists of 4 elements. And in the midst of every half is a fleurs-de-lis. All of the elements are set with giant, valuable stones –96 valuable stones and 20 pearls, amongst them sapphires, emeralds, a ruby and an aquamarine. It’s stated that some might have belonged to Charles’s first spouse Blanche of Valois. Proper on the high there’s a gold cross inlaid with a sapphire, with a carving of the crucifixion of Christ.”
The cross was made hole inside in order that it might maintain a sacred relic – a thorn from Christ’s crown of thorns, which Charles IV managed to amass. Across the cross is the Latin inscription: Right here lies the crown of the Lord. There may be plenty of hypothesis as as to if the thorn remains to be there. When the crown was final examined three months in the past specialists concluded that the cross is unbroken and so there is no such thing as a motive to consider in any other case.
As many historical treasures, the crown of Bohemia can also be protected by a legend that claims that any usurper who would dare to put the crown on their head is bound to die inside a yr. This legend was given added weight by the hearsay that, throughout WWII, Nazi governor Reinhard Heydrich secretly tried on the crown. He was assassinated lower than a yr later by the Czech resistance.
The crown jewels are often inspected and maintained by the Belda household of jewellers who’ve had the privilege of taking care of the crown jewels for greater than half a century.
The Bohemian crown jewels are on show at St. Vitus Cathedral from Monday to Saturday January 21, from 9 am to 5pm. The exhibition is freed from cost and folks might take photographs. A safety examine is required.
