On the orders of Charles IV the new royal crown was deposited in St. Vitus Cathedral, however, it was later transferred to Karlštejn Castle.

It has a total of 19 sapphires, 44 spinels, 30 emeralds and 1 red elbaite (variety rubellite), often falsely referred to as ruby.

The crown was exhibited in May 2016 to mark the 700th anniversary of the birth of Charles IV, and in May 2013, celebrating the inauguration of a new Czech president.

During World War II, Reinhard Heydrich, the Deputy Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, is said to have secretly crowned himself while inspecting St. Vitus' Cathedral, and was assassinated less than a year later by the Czech resistance.

[3] In November 1945, a rumor held that the crown had been stolen by Heydrich and sold in Germany, and that the version recovered in Prague after the end of World War II was in fact a forgery.