Crown of Saint Wenceslas
The Crown of Saint Wenceslas, the Svatováclavská koruna, was made in 1347 for the coronation of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia, and was named after the tenth-century Bohemian duke and martyr Saint Wenceslas. It is set with large rubies, sapphires, emeralds, spinels and pearls, and together with the orb, sceptre and coronation robes it forms the Bohemian crown jewels, now kept in St Vitus Cathedral in Prague. The crown carries a famous curse: legend holds that a usurper who sets it on his head will die within a year, a fate sometimes connected with the Nazi governor Reinhard