Czech crown jewels to return to Coronation Chamber

The seven key holders of the Coronation Chamber representing state, church, and city authority will gather this evening in St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle to return the crown jewels, which were on public display, to their place of safekeeping. The ceremony will take place two to three hours after the exhibition of royal insignia closes at 5 p.m. on Monday in the Vladislav Hall of the Old Royal Palace.

The chamber keys are held by the president, the speakers of both parliamentary chambers, the prime minister, the Archbishop of Prague, the mayor of Prague, and the dean of the St. Vitus Metropolitan Chapter. The tradition of displaying the jewels dates back to the First Republic, with the first public exhibition held in 1929 to mark the millennium of St. Wenceslas’s death. The jewels have been displayed altogether nine times since the founding on the Czech Republic in 1993.