Imperial Treasury

If you only see one Habsburg collection apart from the palaces, make it the Schatzkammer, the Imperial Treasury. It sits off the Schweizerhof, the medieval core of the Hofburg, entered through a painted Renaissance gate, and in around twenty dimly lit rooms it shows the objects that made emperors. The Secular Treasury holds two sets of imperial regalia. The first belongs to the Austrian Empire: the private crown of Emperor Rudolf II, made in Prague in 1602 and later the crown of Austria, a breathtaking piece of gold, enamel, pearls and gems, together with the matching orb and sceptre and the robes worn at the declaration of the empire in 1804. The second is older and stranger: the regalia of the Holy Roman Empire, the realm that united much of central Europe for close to a thousand years. Its eight-sided Imperial Crown dates from the tenth or eleventh century, set with uncut stones and enamel plaques, and is one of the most important objects of the European Middle Ages. Beside it are the coronation mantle made in Norman Palermo in the 1130s, embroidered with lions attacking camels, the Holy Lance, revered as a relic, and the imperial sword. Then come the curiosities a dynasty collects: an enormous agate bowl once believed to be the Holy Grail, a narwhal tusk prized as a unicorn horn, the cradle made for Napoleon's son, the King of Rome, and the treasure of the Burgundian dukes and the Order of the Golden Fleece. The Ecclesiastical Treasury adds reliquaries, vestments and devotional objects of extraordinary craftsmanship. The Treasury is run by the Kunsthistorisches Museum, it is closed on Tuesdays, and it takes about an hour and a half to see properly.

Why it matters: the Holy Roman Empire's crown jewels were moved to Vienna around 1800 to keep them out of Napoleon's hands, taken to Nuremberg by the Nazi regime in 1938 and returned after the Second World War, so the objects in these rooms have their own dramatic history on top of the history they represent. Seeing them close up, in cases you can walk all the way around, is a different experience from seeing royal jewels behind moving walkways elsewhere in Europe. The audio guide is worth taking, because the labels are brief and the stories behind the pieces are the point.

How to visit: come at opening time, when the rooms are quiet; tour groups arrive from mid-morning and the small rooms fill quickly. The main highlights are concentrated in the Secular Treasury, so if your time is short, go straight to the Austrian imperial crown and the Holy Roman regalia and then work through the rest. Tickets are timed in busy periods and available as a single entry or in combination with the Kunsthistorisches Museum, which makes sense if you are an art lover planning both. The Treasury is closed on Tuesdays, which catches many visitors out. Photography without flash is generally permitted.

Fitting it into the day: the Schweizerhof sits between the Imperial Apartments and Sisi Museum, the Hofburg Chapel where the Vienna Boys Choir sing Sunday Mass, and the Spanish Riding School, so the Treasury slots easily into a morning in the Hofburg. History buffs can follow it with the Imperial Crypt a few minutes away, where many of the emperors whose crowns you have just seen are buried. Families with children who like crowns and treasure stories do well here, as the visit is short and visually spectacular.