Crown of the Kingdom of Saxony - Without Cap

The Crown of Augustus II was intended for his coronation as a King of Poland. The crown was made in 1697 by

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

's goldsmith Johann Friedrich Klemm. It was not used, however. The Augustus II's crown is kept in

Dresden Armory The Dresden Armoury or Dresden Armory (German: ''Rüstkammer''), also known as the Dresden Historical Museum (German: ''Historisches Museum Dresden''), is one of the world's largest collections of ceremonial weapons, armour and historical textile ...

(Rüstkammer) in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

, Germany.

History

Due to a double

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

François Louis, Prince of Conti François Louis de Bourbon, ''le Grand Conti'' (30 April 1664 – 22 February 1709),

and the Frederick Augustus I,

Elector of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony (German: or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356–1806. It was centered around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. In the Golden Bull of 1356, Emperor Charles ...

(elected King of Poland as ''

Augustus II Augustus II; german: August der Starke; lt, Augustas II; in Saxony also known as Frederick Augustus I – Friedrich August I (12 May 16701 February 1733), most commonly known as Augustus the Strong, was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as Ki ...

'') in 1697, the two claimants to the Polish throne had serious troubles with obtaining approval of the

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...

for their coronation. The most difficult situation was of Elector of Saxony, who had no support of the primate Michał Stefan Radziejowski and most of the senators holding the custody of the

Wawel Castle The Wawel Royal Castle (; ''Zamek Królewski na Wawelu'') and the Wawel Hill on which it sits constitute the most historically and culturally significant site in Poland. A fortified residency on the Vistula River in Kraków, it was established o ...

Crown Treasury. Therefore, expecting obstacles in obtaining the

royal insignia The royal insignia ( nl, koninklijk distinctief) is the military insignia specially designed for Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands for use on his military uniforms after his investiture as King of the Netherlands in 2013. The insignia consi ...

, he ordered to prepare replacements before his arrival to

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

. On the eve of the ceremony, some of the gathered decided to find a way to obtain the original regalia. Two monks Aleksander Wyhowski, prior of Czerwińsk and Mikołaj Wyżycki, prior of the Holy Cross made a hole in the castle's wall and got to the vault from which they stole the crown, scepter, sword and orb. The Dresden regalia become unnecessary, Augustus II the Strong, however, treated them as a private insignia. Crown of Augustus II the Strong is made of gilded

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

and decorated with colorful enamel and semi-precious stones.

References

External links

*
Königskrone Augusts des Starken
Polish crown jewels

Augustus II the Strong Augustus II; german: August der Starke; lt, Augustas II; in Saxony also known as Frederick Augustus I – Friedrich August I (12 May 16701 February 1733), most commonly known as Augustus the Strong, was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as K ...

{{Poland-hist-stub

History

References

Further reading

External links