The Prague Post
May 12th, 2008
Reader's Survey     Endowment Fund     Book of Lists ONLINE      Reservations      Classifieds    Subscriptions
Real Estate Prague Prague Rentals Prague Apartments Prague Art & Antiques

Home » Archives » News

Thousands flock to see crown jewels

5,000 daily visitors marvel at the rich history of prized national possessions

By Ondřej Bouda
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
April 23rd, 2008 issue

KURT VINION/THE PRAGUE POST
The crown, the Bohemian Crown Jewels' biggest draw, was commissioned by Charles IV in honor of St. Wenceslas.
enlarge
KURT VINION/THE PRAGUE POST
Crucifix, with relic of Christ's loincloth, 1376
enlarge
Golden hand containing relic of St. Wenceslas, 1500s
enlarge
KURT VINION/THE PRAGUE POST
Relic from St. Catherine of Alexandria, c. 1380
enlarge
Bust of St. Anne with detail of baby Jesus, after 1500
enlarge
KURT VINION/THE PRAGUE POST
Bust of St. Vitus, containing a relic of the saint, 1486
enlarge
KURT VINION/THE PRAGUE POST
Bust of St. Wenceslas, before 1503
enlarge
By the numbers



22 Coronations in which the crown was used
1836 Year of last coronation
96 Precious stones on the crown
663 Age of the crown
Three Hours it takes to clean the crown,
scepter and orb

All this week, tourists and locals alike are queuing up in front of Prague Castle’s gates to view the Bohemian Crown Jewels. When the exhibition opened April 19, some visitors arrived at 3:30 a.m., only to find themselves lining up behind others who had slept out in the street to be first.
The jewels are only displayed on special occasions, in this case the re-election of President Václav Klaus.
In closed proceedings on the evening of April 17, the country’s leadership assembled at the Old Royal Palace of Prague Castle to bring the jewels out of the Crown Chamber in St. Vitus Cathedral. Seven officials, including Klaus, Prime Minster Mirek Topolánek and Prague Mayor Pavel Bém, used the seven keys in their keeping to unlock the chamber door so that the jewels could be removed and laid out for their 11-day public display in Vladislav Hall.
But the crown, scepter and coronation orb at the center of the display — last exhibited in 2003 — aren’t the only items on exhibition.
“We wanted to show more than just the jewels, and managed to put together a set of unique artifacts connected with coronations, many of which have not been seen before,” said Ivana Kyzourová, head of the Castle Heritage Conservation Department, at a press conference that opened the exhibition.
Other items include the crown’s original leather case, the 10th-century sword of St. Wenceslas and a 14th-century coronation crucifix, as well as a coronation cloak and other ornamental accessories. Also included are three gilded silver shrines from the 14th century in the shape of Gothic towers, and three late Gothic shrines depicting the patron saints of Bohemia, as well as other religious artifacts.
As legend has it
The history of these items is humbling to consider. The coronation crucifix comes from the second half of the 14th century and is said to hold relics from the crucifixion of Jesus Christ that can be seen behind crystal plates.
New studies of the sword have dated the blade to the 10th century, thus confirming the possibility that it could have actually belonged to St. Wenceslas.
But perhaps the richest story belongs to the crown itself, which is one of the oldest surviving royal crowns in Europe. It was preceded by another crown belonging to Charles IV’s father, John of Luxembourg, who pawned the ornament to raise money for his armies. Charles IV had the current crown made for his 1347 coronation, then decreed that it be “given” to St. Wenceslas and placed on a bust of the saint, so that no mortal man could use it for base monetary purposes.
“The Bohemian Crown is also unique because it is a shrine crown and holds a thorn from Christ’s crown in the cross at the top,” said Jan Royt, professor of Christian art at Charles University. For this reason, Pope Clement VI issued a papal bull forbidding anyone except the rightful king to wear it, under pain of excommunication. According to legend, anyone who tries it on will die within a year. Reinhard Heydrich is said to have tried it on after he was appointed Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia in 1941. He was assassinated within a year of the incident.
The crown jewels did not always rest in St. Vitus Cathedral as was intended, but were moved to various safer locations during times of war. Since their whereabouts were usually kept secret, their path throughout history is difficult to trace. During World War II, they were moved to the Slovak city of Žilina, but quickly returned after Germans took control of Czechoslovakia. The Germans never stole the crown jewels, only walled them up in the Prague Castle basement at the end of the war.
Royt points out that the Nazi obsession with a 1,000-year empire, in effect, saved the jewels.
“They viewed Bohemia as part of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Bohemian king was the only king in the empire that had participated in electing the emperor,” he said. “So, in a way, they honored their own history by keeping them here.”

Ondřej Bouda can be reached at news@praguepost.com


Help us improve The Prague Post - fill out our Reader's Survey.

Other articles in News (23/04/2008):

Browse the Current Issue

If you enjoyed this article, why don't you subscribe to the print version!
We accept secure online transactions provided by PayPal and Moneybookers

Be the first to add a comment!


Full Name: *
City: *
E-mail: **
This comment can be published in the print version of The Prague Post
Enter the text on the right:
 visual captcha
Comment: *
* Required field. In order to be approved for display, comments must have a first and last name and a city.
** E-mails are required and will only be used for internal purposes.

Most visited in Book of Lists

Hotel booking
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in
The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic.
To subscribe to the print paper, click here.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.