Kaiserkronen

Imperial Crowns: The Secular Imperial Treasury displays 2 crowns: the Crown of the Holy Roman Empire, which was probably made in 962 or 968 for Otto I the Great. The arch of the crown goes back to the 11^th century. This crown was used for the coronation of German kings and Roman Emperors until 1792. The Austrian crown was made by order of Rudolf II in Prague in 1602 by Jan Vermeyen as a private crown with a mitre under the arch. Later it became the official Habsburg crown and was used when the Habsburg hereditary lands became the Austrian Empire. In 1804 it became the official crown but was never used for a coronation.

Literature: H. Fillitz, Die österreichische Kaiserkrone, ²1973; G. Kugler, Die Reichskrone, ²1986; Weltliche und geistliche Schatzkammer. Guide, 1987.