Crowning Wisdom: Hohenzollern

This crown of Prussia was made on the orders of Wilhelm II in 1889, re-using jewels from the previous headdress. Called the Hohenzollernkrone after the emperor’s surname, Wilhelm combined the kingship of Prussia with the Emperorship of Germany. It is surmounted by a diamond-encrusted cross which rests on a large sapphire. These are placed on eight half-arches rising from the base that are adorned with 142 rose-cut diamonds and 18 regular diamonds. The large sapphire, which strangely appears purple on my little model, may refer to the visions of God described by the Hebrew prophets:

And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. -Exodus 24:10

And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. -Ezekiel 1:26

This dazzlingly beautiful blue stone somehow resembles the base of the heavenly throne, upon which the dizzying splendour of the Living God is shown.

When Christ hung upon that crude wooden cross, there was no shimmering, twinkling precious stone beneath its splintered base, just crude earth, the very ground which He had cursed at Adam’s fall. For having paid so dreadful a price, however, the disgraced and disfigured sons of Adam may approach the beautiful sapphire throne and behold the divine glory that their forbear lost.

A  D