Imperial Regalia in the context of "Sceptre"

The Holy Roman Emperor received the imperial regalia from the hands of the Pope, symbolizing both the pope's right to crown Christian sovereigns and also the emperor's role as protector of the Catholic Church. The Holy Roman Empresses were crowned as well.

The Holy Roman Empire was established in 962 under Otto the Great. Later emperors were crowned by the pope or other Catholic bishops. In 1530 Charles V became the last Holy Roman emperor to be crowned by a pope, Clement VII, albeit in Bologna (Frederick III was the last to be crowned in Rome). Thereafter, until the abolition of the empire in 1806, no further crownings by the pope were held. Later rulers simply proclaimed themselves Imperator Electus Romanorum ("Elected Emperor of the Romans") after their coronation as German king.
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The Imperial Treasury (German: Kaiserliche Schatzkammer) at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria contains a valuable collection of secular and ecclesiastical treasures covering over a thousand years of European history. The entrance to the treasury is at the Schweizerhof (Swiss Courtyard), the oldest part of the palace, which was rebuilt in the sixteenth century in the Renaissance style under Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. The Imperial Treasury is affiliated with the Kunsthistorisches Museum, and houses in 21 rooms a collection of rare treasures that were compiled by the Imperial House of Habsburg over the course of centuries, including the Imperial Crown, Orb, and Sceptre of Austria, and the Imperial Regalia of the Emperors and Kings of the Holy Roman Empire, including the Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire.

The Imperial Treasury is divided into two collections: the secular collection and the ecclesiastical collection. The secular collection contains numerous imperial artifacts from the House of Habsburg, including jewels and precious stones that due to their unique size could not be fitted into the imperial crowns. Like all secular treasuries, it was designed to attest to the political power and geographical reach of their owners. The ecclesiastical collection contains numerous religious treasures, including relics and objects ascribed to the private ownership of saints.

Karlštejn Castle (Czech: hrad Karlštejn; German: Burg Karlstein) is a castle in the Czech Republic. It is a large Gothic castle founded in 1348 by King Charles IV. The castle served as a place for safekeeping the Imperial Regalia as well as the Bohemian crown jewels, holy relics, and other royal treasures. Karlštejn is among the most famous and most frequently visited castles in the country.

The globus cruciger (Latin for 'cross-bearing orb'), also known as stavroforos sphaira (Greek: σταυροφόρος σφαίρα) or "the orb and cross", is an orb surmounted by a cross. It has been a Christian symbol of authority since the Middle Ages, used on coins, in iconography, and with a sceptre as royal regalia.

The cross laid over the globus represents Christ's dominion over the world, literally held in the hand of a worthy earthly ruler. In the iconography of Western art, when Christ himself holds the globe, he is called Salvator Mundi (Latin for 'Saviour of the World'). For instance, the 16th-century Infant Jesus of Prague statue holds a globus cruciger in this manner.