Look: The Crown Jewels are on display. There is a queue for the tour
The crown of St. Wenceslas, the royal scepter, the apple and, together with them, the Coronation Cross are displayed in the original display case, designed by the architect Gočár, just like in 1929. The exhibition also includes an extraordinary display of the relic (skull) of St. Wenceslas in the St. Wenceslas Chapel of the cathedral and a display case with textile components of the set of crown jewels – a royal cloak with an ermine collar.
In the southern aisle of the cathedral, the entire exhibition project is completed by two showcases, one with leather cases for the crown, scepter and apple, the other with the funerary jewels of Přemysl Otakar II.
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The exhibition will be open every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. “For operational reasons, as in previous years, they will not issue any timed or other tickets, and the visit cannot be reserved,” said Vít Novák from the Office of the President of the Republic.
The crown, scepter and apple are permanently stored in the crown chamber in the temple of St. Welcome, the robe is kept in a special air-conditioned depository in the Prague Castle Collection.
Crown chamber in the temple of St. Vita, in which the crown jewels of the Czech kings are stored, is without exaggeration the most accessible place in Prague Castle. The door, just like the armory for jewels, has seven locks. To open it and pick up the jewels, seven key holders must meet: the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Archbishop of Prague, the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, the Speaker of the Senate, the Dean of the Metropolitan Chapter at St. He also welcomes the mayor of the capital city of Prague.
The Seven Keys opened the chambers in the cathedral containing the crown jewels
The tradition of the seven keys arose after in 1791 King Leopold II. he complied with the requests of the Czech estates to return the jewels from Vienna to Prague. They were kept in the temple of St. Welcome to the Castle, this time in the crown archive behind the St. Wenceslas Chapel, behind an iron door with five locks. A special cabinet was set aside for them, equipped with two more locks, to which two jewel guards were given the keys. Although the location of their storage later changed, the tradition of the seven keys remained.
St. Wenceslas crown
The jewel made of high-purity gold (21-22 carats), decorated with precious stones and pearls, is the oldest in the coronation set. It weighs almost two and a half kilograms, it is 19 cm high including the cross, it is also 19 cm in diameter and each of the four parts of the headband measures 14.5 cm. Charles IV had it made for his coronation in 1347.
Apple
The apple is made of high purity gold (18 carats), weighs 780 grams and is 22 cm high. It consists of two flattened hemispheres connected by a decorative ring and topped with a relatively large cross. The rich ornamental decoration of the apple is dominated by precious stones and pearls, the detail is the small figures of six sphinxes that form the base of the cross.
Scepter
The scepter is made of gold of the same purity (18 carats) as the apple, is 67 cm long and weighs 1013 grams. In the set of crown jewels, it replaced the scepter from the time of Charles IV. It is decorated with four sapphires, five spinels and sixty-two pearls.
Plastic
The coronation cloak, kept at Prague Castle, is made of a luxurious silk fabric called zlatohlav. It is 312 cm wide, 236 cm long from the neckline to the end of the skirt. It is lined all around with ermine – winter white ermine fur. The researchers managed to place it more precisely in the beginning of the 17th century, most likely in the time of Ferdinand II.