Vienna Day Five: The Imperial Treasury

To start the day, students visited the Imperial Treasury located in the Hofburg Palace. The Treasury included items of gold, silver, crystal, and many other types of precious jewels as well as the crowns and vestments of the Austrian royal family.

One of the rarer items was the emerald vessel. This vessel was the largest emerald in the world. The treasury also included the famed unicorn horn and unicorn sword (in reality, they were the horns of Narwhales). Unicorns were said to have magical powers and give power to anyone who had it in its possession. 

The treasury also demonstrated the importance of religion and politics in both the Austrian and especially the Holy Roman Empire. Relics, such as a tooth of John the Baptist and a piece of the cross on which Christ was crucified, were part of the collection. 

The morning started out on a good note with some of the more interesting artifacts thus far.