Saliera, Benvenuto Cellini, 1540-43, gold, enamel ©Wien, Kunsthistorisches Museum During the late 16th century, Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II turned Prague into Europe’s cultural capital, amassing the greatest art collection of his day. Cost was no object and he invited the best goldsmiths, stone carvers, and clock makers to his court. Rudolf kept the treasures inside Hradcany Castle in a chamber of art, or Kunstkammer, a highly personal reflection of his world view. Today, Rudolf’s prized possessions along with those of his art-loving Habsburg relatives reside at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. After a decade long closure, the museum’s refurbished Kunstkammer reopened March 1. Though the museum itself is lavishly decorated by famous artists including Gustav Klimt, and crowned with an ornate cupola, nothing prepares you for this 20-room embarrassment of riches. The “museum within a museum” features a dizzying 2,200 objects arranged chronologically -- from the late Read More