A church treasure (German: Kirchenschatz) is the collection of historical art treasures belonging to a church, usually a monastery (monastery treasure), abbey, cathedral. Such "treasure" is usually held and displayed in the church's treasury or in a diocesan museum. Historically the highlight of church treasures was often a collection of reliquaries.
As a result of gifts and the desire to acquire sacred artifacts, many churches over the centuries gathered valuable and historic collections of altar plate, illuminated manuscripts of liturgical or religious books, as well as vestments, and other works of art or items of historical interest. Despite iconoclasm, secularism, looting, fire, the enforced sale of treasure in times of financial difficulty, theft and other losses, much of this treasure has survived or has even been repurchased. Many large churches have been displaying their riches to visitors in some form for centuries.
Examples and museums of important church and cathedral treasures
Austria:
Salzburg Cathedral Museum
Imperial Treasury in der Hofburg Palace, Vienna
Cathedral museum in the cathedral church of St. Stephen of Vienna, also called St. Stephen's Cathedral.
Czech Republic:
Treasury of St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague
England
Most cathedrals have treasuries, though these generally lack the medieval metalwork of continental treasuries, which did not survive the Reformation.
Germany:
Aachen Cathedral Treasure
Diocesan Museum, Bamberg, formerly the cathedral treasure of Bamberg Cathedral
Treasure of Brunswick Cathedral, very much later called the Welf Treasure, since 1928 largely sold
Essen Cathedral Treasure
Halberstadt Cathedral Treasure
Hildesheim Cathedral Museum (Cathedral treasure and diocesan museum)
Cathedral Treasury, Cologne
Cathedral and Diocesan Museum, Mainz with treasury in St. Nicholas' Chapel
Diocesan Museum, Osnabrück with the cathedral treasure
Archepiscopal Diocesan Museum and Treasury, Paderborn
Cathedral Treasury and Diocesan Museum, Passau
Speyer Cathedral Treasure in the Historical Museum of the Palatinate
Quedlinburg Cathedral Treasure
Bishopric Museums, Regensburg
Trier Cathedral Treasure
Würzburg Cathedral Treasure
Stift Museum, Xanten, previously the Xanten Cathedral Treasury (Domschatzkammer Xanten)
- also the cathedrals of Bautzen, Eibingen, Merseburg, Minden, Naumburg etc
Italy:
Bozen Cathedral Treasure
Brixen Cathedral Treasure
Monza Cathedral, with the Iron Crown of Lombardy, the Late Antique ivory Poet and Muse diptych, of about 500, as well as several of the small metal 6th century Monza ampullae
Troia Cathedral Treasure (planned to be transferred to the diocesan museum)
Monreale Cathedral, important church treasure
Palermo Cathedral, treasure includes the crown of Empress Constance of Aragon
St Mark's Basilica, Venice, famous for its collection of Byzantine loot
St Peter's, Rome, and many other Roman churches
Netherlands:
Church treasure of Saint Servatius Basilica, Maastricht
Portugal:
Braga Cathedral Treasure
Spain
El Escorial
Switzerland:
Basle Münster Treasure
Lucas Burkart: Das Blut der Märtyrer. Genese, Bedeutung und Funktion mittelalterlicher Schätze. Böhlau, Cologne, 2009, ISBN 978-3-412-20104-3
