, kept in the Imperial Treasury at the
Hofburg Palace in Vienna The Imperial Treasury collections were set up from 1556 by the scholar
Jacopo Strada, court
antiquarian of
Ferdinand I. In the eighteenth century,
Maria Theresa had the Habsburg treasures moved to its present location, covering up the fact that the dynasty's assets had been largely affected by the expensive wars against rivaling
Prussia. The Imperial Regalia arrived in the last days of the
Holy Roman Empire around 1800 from
Nuremberg, where they had been kept since 1424, in order to save them from the advancing
French troops under
Napoleon. After the Austrian
Anschluss of 1938, the
Nazi authorities took them back to Nuremberg. At the end of
World War II, they were returned to Vienna by the
US forces. The display was completely renovated in 1983–1987. The Treasury is divided into two sections - secular and ecclesiastical. The secular museum contains a collection of royal objects: • The Imperial Regalia (
Reichskleinodien): insignia and jewels of the Holy Roman Empire, including the
Imperial Crown, the Imperial Sceptre, and the
Imperial Sword; • The
Austrian Crown Jewels, comprising the personal crown of Emperor
Rudolf II, which with the proclamation of the
Austrian Empire in 1804 became the
Imperial Crown of Austria, with
sceptre and
globus cruciger, the regalia worn by Emperor
Ferdinand I of Austria on the occasion of his coronation as King of
Lombardy–Venetia in 1835, as well as the vestments and other precious items of the
Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary and the
Military Order of Maria Theresa; • The regalia of the
Archduchy of Austria with the cord casing of the
archducal hat made for the coronation of King
Joseph II in 1764; • The
Burgundian Treasury, part of the dowry of
Mary the Rich at her wedding with Archduke
Maximilian I in 1477. • The
original insignia of the Kingdom of Bohemia, the scepter and the orb. • The treasury of the
Order of the Golden Fleece from the heritage of Mary's father Duke
Charles the Bold. On display are various valuable gems, including one of the world's largest emeralds. Part of the treasury are also the
crown of the Transylvanian prince
Stephen Bocskay and the two "inalienable heirlooms of the House of Austria": a giant
narwhal tooth which was thought to be the horn of a
unicorn (
Ainkhürn) and the
Agate bowl from Late Antiquity which was thought to be the legendary
Holy Grail; furthermore the
Napoleonica artifacts of
Napoleon II and his mother
Marie Louise. ==Ecclesiastical collection==