
Imperial Treasury
Vaulted hall of Habsburg regalia, sacred relics and a legendary unicorn horn spanning a thousand years.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Vienna's Imperial Treasury follows the Holy Lance, the relic believed since medieval times to be the spear that pierced the crucified Christ, and the young Adolf Hitler's fixation on it as a museum visitor decades before he became dictator. It traces the lance's role as the ultimate coronation relic for Holy Roman Emperors, and what happened after Hitler annexed Austria in 1938. Look nearby for the narwhal tusk once sold to emperors as a unicorn's horn.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien
Grand Ringstrasse palace museum of Habsburg treasures, home to a gold salt cellar once stolen off its shelf.
Hofburg
Sprawling palace complex of courtyards and wings built up over seven centuries of Habsburg rule.
State Hall
Domed Baroque hall of towering bookshelves, crowned by a fresco of an emperor ascending skyward.
Sisi Museum
Six rooms of the empress's personal belongings, from her death mask to the corset and fan from her assassination.
Capuchin Church, llc
Baroque crypt beneath a Capuchin church holding the tombs of Habsburg emperors and empresses since the sixteen hundreds.
Weltmuseum Wien
Ethnographic museum in a Hofburg wing, home to a fragile, centuries-old quetzal-feather headdress too delicate to ever travel.