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By far the most rewarding of all the Hofburg museums (daily except Tues 10am-6pm; oS100/?7.27), is the imperial Schatzkammer or Treasury. Here you can see some of the finest medieval craftsmanship and jewellery in Europe, including the imperial regalia and relics of the Holy Roman Empire, not to mention the Habsburgs' own crown jewels, countless reliquaries and robes, gold work and silverware. You can wander at will around the twenty or so rooms, but, since the labelling is in German only, it's worth picking up one of the portable computer guides available free of charge. Centre stage in room 2, you'll find the stunning golden Crown of Rudolf II (later to become the Austrian imperial crown), studded with diamonds, rubies, pearls and, at the very top, a huge sapphire. The mother of all cots resides in room 5, an overwrought, silver-gilt cradle with silk and velvet trimmings, made in 1811 for the short-lived Duke of Reichstadt , or King of Rome, son of Napoleon and his second wife, Marie Louise, daughter of the Emperor Franz I. The poor boy must have had nightmares from the golden eagle that hovers over the cot. Among the remnants of the Habsburgs' private jewellery , in room 7, there are some serious stones on display, like the 2680-carat Colombian emerald the size of your fist, carved into a salt cellar in Prague in 1641, and the huge garnet, "La Bella", which forms the centre of a double-headed eagle, along with an amethyst and an opal, set in enamel. Another notable treasure is the solid gold Turkish crown of the rebel King of Hungary, Istvan Bocskai, from 1605, inlaid with pearls and precious stones. Room 8 contains the so-called " inalienable heirlooms ", two pieces collected by Ferdinand I, which the Habsburgs were very keen to hold onto: a fourth-century agate dish, stolen from Constantinople in 1204 and thought at the time to be the Holy Grail, and a 2.43 metre-long narwhal's horn, which was originally believed to have come from a unicorn. The highlights of the whole collection, however, are the crown jewels of the Holy Roman Empire in room 11. The focal point is the octagonal imperial crown itself, a superb piece of Byzantine jewellery, smothered with pearls, large precious stones and enamel plaques. Legend has it that the crown was used in the coronation of Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor, in 800, but it now seems likely that it dates back only to that of Otto I, in 962. Also on display here is the legendary Holy Lance , with which the Roman soldier pierced the side of Christ. The lance - which actually dates from the eighth century - was alleged to have magic powers, so that whoever possessed it held the destiny of the world in their hands. It was in front of this exhibit that the young Hitler is supposed to have had a mystical revelation, which changed the course of his life (and therefore of twentieth-century history), though the story is probably apocryphal. The last four rooms (13-16) of the Schatzkammer house the substantial dowry that came into Habsburg hands in 1477, when the Emperor Maximilian I married the only daughter and heiress of the duke of Burgundy. By so doing Maximilian also became Grand Master of the Order of the Golden Fleece , the exclusive Burgundian order of chivalry founded in 1430, whose insignia are displayed here: heavy mantles embroidered with gold thread, a collar of golden links, from which the "fleece" would hang, and the ram emblem, worn by the 24 knights of the order at all times.
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