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The Imperial Treasury at the Hofburg: The City of Budapest Opal Suite

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Photo generously shared by reader Lisa
Our virtual visit to the Imperial Treasury at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna wraps up today with a look at an intriguing royal wedding gift: the City of Budapest Opal Suite.

Stephanie and Rudolf, ca. 1881
In March 1880, Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, the only son of the Austro-Hungarian emperor, made a visit the court of King Leopold II of Belgium. The 21-year-old prince, under pressure from his parents, was on the hunt for a royal bride. In Brussels, he met Princess Stephanie, Leopold’s 15-year-old daughter. Rudolf impulsively decided that Stephanie was his perfect future empress and proposed to her within two days of his arrival. Because of her age, though, the wedding was ultimately postponed until May 1881, only a few weeks before her seventeenth birthday.
Photo generously shared by reader Lisa
Wedding gifts from all over the Austro-Hungarian empire poured in for the new crown princess. The City of Budapest offered Stephanie a unique suite of jewels set with rubies, diamonds, and Hungarian opals. Lisa, the reader who visited the Hofburg and has generously shared her photos with all of us, told me, “Personally, I thought the opals to be extremely luminous.” In recognition of Stephanie’s family, the suite incorporates the golden lion of Belgium, as well as the coat of arms of the City of Budapest. Overall the set’s design owed much to traditional Hungarian jewels; it was reportedly inspired specifically by a set owned by a sixteenth-century Queen of Hungary, Isabella Jagiellon. The new set of jewels was placed on public display in Budapest on April 25, 1881.
Detail of the central medallions of the necklace (left) and the girdle/belt (right) (Photo generously shared by reader Lisa)
The press took note of the grand wedding gift on display. A British newspaper, The Graphic, included a description of the suite in their April 1881 article about Stephanie’s wedding presents: “The wedding presents for the Princess Stephanie, future Empress of Austria, will be exceptionally splendid. One of the most valuable gifts is the suite of jewels presented by Buda Pesth, and including a silver [sic] waist-belt in chainwork, formed of small diamond scales, each of which contains a fine opal in the centre, with diamonds sparkling in the corner. The opal and diamond necklet reaches to the waist, and from it hangs the Belgian lion in jewels, while fourteen buckles for the dress and six hair-pins are added to the usual earrings, bracelets, etc.”
Close-up view of the belt (or “girdle”) from the suite (Photo generously shared by reader Lisa)
The Telegraph‘s correspondent in Budapest also described the suite in detail: “The wedding present which has been subscribed for by the City of Pesth for presentation to the Princess Stephanie has been publicly exhibited here since yesterday. It consists of a garniture or complete set of jewel ornaments on the old Hungarian pattern. The various articles are imitations of the wonderful workmanship of the girdle once worn by Queen Isabella Zapolyi, and now in the National Museum. The girdle for the Princess Stephanie consists of four exquisite gold chains held together by a set of medallions; a gorgeous necklace studded with precious stones; six buckles, a pair of ear pendants, and five hair pins. The precious stones in the whole garniture amount altogether to four large rubies, eleven thousand diamonds, and three hundred and three opals of unrivalled beauty. This latter class of precious stones, I may mention, is nowhere found in such perfection as in Hungary. There are several opals in the girdle and necklace of extraordinary value and beauty.”
Hans Canon’s portrait of Stephanie, ca. 1881 (Wikimedia Commons)
The newly-married couple visited Budapest in May 1881. Shortly after her wedding, Stephanie also posed for noted Austrian painter Hans Canon (born Johann Baptist Straschiripka). The portrait shows young Stephanie wearing a black gown and several pieces from the Budapest Opal Suite, including the necklace, the belt, and one of the brooches.
Stephanie wears the suite with traditional Hungarian dress (Wikimedia Commons)
In a later series of portraits, Stephanie posed in traditional Hungarian dress with the opal suite. You’ll spot the necklace and earrings here, as well as the dress buckles and the earrings.
Another image of Stephanie wearing the jewels with traditional Hungarian dress (Wikimedia Commons)
Here’s another angle from the same portrait session. This image shows the detail of the belt more clearly, as well as the earrings.
Photo generously shared by reader Lisa
Stephanie’s affection for Hungary grew throughout and after her short and tragic royal marriage. A decade after she was famously widowed in 1889, she married a Hungarian nobleman, Count Elemér Lónyay. The couple settled in a Hungarian castle, and in 1917, Emperor Karl I of Austria elevated Lónyay to the title of Furst. Stephanie died in Hungary in 1945, and she’s buried there in Pannonhalma Archabbey. Her Hungarian opals, however, live on in public display at the Imperial Treasury in Vienna.
Huge thanks once more to Lisa, the generous reader who has shared her photographs and allowed us all to join her on this virtual visit!

The Imperial Treasury at the Hofburg: The Austrian Imperial Regalia

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Photo generously shared by reader Lisa
Because it’s tough for many of us to travel right now, I’ve got a special treat: a two-part tour of some of the spectacular pieces found in the Imperial Treasury at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna. One of our generous readers, Lisa, visited earlier in the year and took these photos for us to enjoy. Let’s start off with a look at three pieces of the imperial regalia of the Habsburgs.

Photo generously shared by reader Lisa
This imposing crown was made in Prague in 1602 by a Belgian goldsmith, Jan Vermeyen. Trained in Antwerp, he began his professional career in Frankfurt before settling in Prague. There, he became a favored craftsman of Rudolf II, the Habsburg monarch who reigned as Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and Croatia, King of Bohemia, and Archduke of Austria.
Rudolf II, painted by artist and printmaker Martino Rota (Wikimedia Commons)
Rudolf II (1552-1612) was the third of sixteen children born to Emperor Maximilian II and his wife (and first cousin), Maria of Spain. He was a contemporary of Queen Elizabeth I of England, and, like her, he never married. Though he wielded major political power, he was more interested in other areas — the arts, especially collecting, the sciences, and even the occult. During his reign, he waged war against the Ottoman Empire and established some of the political conditions that ultimately led to the Thirty Years’ War.
Photo generously shared by reader Lisa
All crowns are symbolic, but the Crown of Rudolf II is especially detailed in its symbolism. The piece was a personal crown belonging to Rudolf, separate from the regalia of the Holy Roman Emperor. Like other crowns of its era, the piece features three distinctive sections: the circlet, the arch, and the mitre (the gold panels that rise up from the base, resembling a bishop’s hat). The piece is studded with gems, including diamonds, spinels, zircons, and numerous pearls. Note the large spinel here set in one of the fleur-de-lis elements of the circlet. A red velvet cap sits inside the crown, which is topped by an unusual blue-green emerald.
Photo generously shared by reader Lisa
The crown’s not-so-subtle symbolism becomes particularly apparent when you examine the mitre panels more closely. Each of the four features a gold engraving that depicts a scene from Rudolf’s reign. Above, Rudolf kneels in the cathedral at Regensburg as he is crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1576. 
Photo generously shared by reader Lisa
The crown that Rudolf is depicted wearing on his own crown (whew — still with me?) was the rather unusual Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire. This remarkable Byzantine-inspired piece dates to the second half 10th century. Made in Germany, the eight-sided crown features a single arch and large cross. The crown, which now also lives in the Imperial Treasury at the Hofburg in Vienna, is decorated with numerous gems, including sapphires, amethysts, diamonds, and pearls. Enameled plates on the sides of the crown depict Biblical scenes.
Photo generously shared by reader Lisa
Anyway — back to our tour of Rudolf II’s personal crown. This second panel from the mitre depicts Rudolf’s riding triumphantly into Pressburg (Bratislava) for his coronation as the King of Hungary…
Photo generously shared by reader Lisa
…while the third panel depicts Rudolf processing through the streets of Prague after his coronation as King of Bohemia. Rudolf loved Prague. He moved his imperial court to the city in 1583, and he is buried there in St. Vitus Cathedral inside the Prague Castle complex.
Photo generously shared by reader Lisa
The final panel from the mitre doesn’t depict one of Rudolf’s coronation. Instead, the final engraving is an allegory showing him celebrating victory in his war with the Ottoman Empire. Given the date of the crown’s creation — 1602 — this allegory of triumph was an aspirational one. Rudolf’s war with the Turks began in 1593, but it didn’t come to any sort of end until 1606. And it wasn’t an outright victory by any measure. Rudolf failed in most of his objectives, and he was forced to cede power to other members of his family. On his crown, though, he imagined himself as a conqueror.
Photo generously shared by reader Lisa
The other two components of the imperial regalia were commissioned by Rudolf’s brother (and successor), Matthias. He reigned as Holy Roman Emperor from 1612 until 1619. The orb and sceptre he commissioned were created by Andreas Ochsenbruck in the first year of his imperial reign. Above, you’ll note that the orb is topped by a large sapphire.
Photo generously shared by reader Lisa
The sceptre is also topped by a sapphire, completing the set. 
Wikimedia Commons
But the sceptre is even more intriguing than that. In the image above, you’ll note that the main part of the sceptre is not covered in gold. Intriguingly, that part of the sceptre is carved out of something truly unusual — the horn of a narwhal (!).
Franz I of Austria-Hungary, painted in 1823 by Friedrich von Amerling (Wikimedia Commons)
The crown, orb, and sceptre were initially made for Holy Roman Emperors, but after the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire in the early nineteenth century, the regalia was retained by the Habsburgs in their new role as Emperors of Austria-Hungary. Franz II, the last Holy Roman Emperor, became Franz I, the first Austro-Hungarian Emperor. In the official portrait above, painted in 1832, he is depicted with all three pieces of the imperial regalia: Rudolf II’s crown, and Matthias’s orb and sceptre.
Franz Josef I, painted by Johann Frankenberger (Wikimedia Commons)
You’ll also spot all three pieces of the regalia sitting beside Emperor Franz Josef I in this nineteenth-century portrait. Today, the crown, orb, and sceptre all still reside in the grand imperial treasury in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna.
Please join me in thanking Lisa for so generously sharing her photographs and experience with us! Stay tuned for another highlight of the treasury’s splendor tomorrow — and more glittering jewels in the meantime!