Crown jewels as a symbol. The Czechs exposed them to the Nazis and the invasion of Soviet troops iRADIO
The crown jewels have always been a symbol of the independence of the Czech nation. The crown of St. Wenceslas, which the Habsburgs took to Vienna after the White Mountain, was returned to Prague in 1791 by Emperor Leopold II. They left the Czech lands only once. In 1866, as the Prussians approached, the Habsburgs drove them back to their capital. They definitively returned to St. Vitus Cathedral a year later. This was also the first time people could see them.
Share on Facebook
Share on LinkedIn
Print
Copy the url address
Abbreviated address
Close
“For people at that time, it meant a symbol that the nation existed. And then when the train arrived in Prague, a golden carriage was already waiting for it,” says Petr Kroupa, Director of the Department of Monument Care at the Office of the President of the Republic. Then, for many decades, the crown and other jewels remained hidden in the Crown Chamber.
Listen to the next part of Radiožurnál’s series about the crown jewels, this time about their display.
The nation could see her again only in 1929 – 11 years after the creation of Czechoslovakia. “There was a special occasion because it was assumed – Kosmas probably wrote it – that in 929 St. Wenceslas died a martyr’s death. So in 1929 it was a thousand years since that event,” Kroupa continues.
But the crown, scepter and apple still remind political representatives of the young republic of the hated monarchy. Therefore, President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk did not even officially come to see them.
The crown played an important role at the beginning of World War II. In the spring of 1939, New York is preparing for the World’s Fair. The Czechoslovak pavilion was also supposed to be part of it. On March 15, 1939, the Wehrmacht occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia. That was the end of the Czech participation in the exhibition in the United States.
Saved exhibition
“Nevertheless, the then New York mayor was a sympathizer with the unfortunate Czech nation. The pavilion was completed on his initiative. And to top it all off, they got a not-so-successful copy of the St. Wenceslas crown from an art collector. And they invited Edvard Beneš there at the time,” adds Kroupa.
The Czech coronation scepter and apple are not original. The Habsburgs exchanged them for more ornate imperial jewels
Read the article
Edvard Beneš ceremoniously opened the Czechoslovak pavilion, and a photo printed in the New York Times of him placing the crown in a display case went around the world.
“That caused a big uproar, because it looked like the Germans got away with something here, so the Czechs were happy about it. And in 1945, when Czechoslovakia was restored after liberation, the crown jewels were displayed with the statement that we are an independent state again,” describes historian Kroupa.
In 1968, Czechoslovakia was preparing for spectacular celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the republic. An exhibition of the crown jewels was also to be part of them.
The most guarded place in the Czech Republic. The Crown Jewels are hidden behind a lock with seven keys at the Castle
Read the article
“But August 21 came and Czechoslovakia lost its independence again. And the exhibition was. And it was done in such a special way. It was exhibited in Plečnik’s colonnaded hall,” adds the director of the Monument Care Department of the Office of the President of the Republic.
In September 1937, during the funeral ceremony, the body of the first Czechoslovak president Tomáš Garrigu Masaryk was transported to the Hall of Columns. “And now imagine that at the place where Masaryk’s funeral came from, there was now an exhibition of the crown jewels,” describes Kroupa.
“It was on black velvet. All sadly conceived. And a huge number of people came there. And it was understood as a sign of defiance against the Soviet occupation,” historian Petr Kroupa explains the hidden meaning of the exhibition.
After the Velvet Revolution, Václav Havel put the coronation jewels on display for the first time in January 1993. Since then, the Castle has been exhibiting the jewels in eighth and third years – i.e. on the occasion of the anniversaries of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic.
Share on Facebook
Share on LinkedIn
Print
Copy the url address
Abbreviated address
Close