Crowns, tiaras, historic gemstones and royal jewels
come together at Lisbon’s Royal Treasure Museum for
TREASURES 2026, November 13–14.
The Royal Treasure Museum in Lisbon, Portugal, will bring together museum curators, gemologists, historians and jewelry specialists from around the world for TREASURES 2026, a two-day colloquium devoted to crowns, tiaras and royal jewels.
And they couldn’t have chosen a more appropriate setting.
The Royal Treasure Museum houses some of Portugal’s most important royal jewels, including Queen Maria Pia’s diamond star diadem and necklace, the gold Crown of King João VI, the great emerald lasso of Maria Bárbara de Bragança, and King João VI’s insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece, described by the museum as the largest still in existence.
TREASURES was launched at the museum in 2024 as an international meeting place for specialists in gems, jewelry and royal collections. Following the inaugural Royal Gems & Jewellery colloquium, the event returns November 13–14, 2026, with an even more focused theme: Royal Crowns and Tiaras.
Opened in 2022 in the west wing of the Ajuda National Palace, the Royal Treasure Museum houses more than 1,000 objects representing the Portuguese Crown jewels and royal jewelry.
The collection includes jewels, royal insignia and decorations, coins, ceremonial silver, diplomatic gifts and objects of both civil and religious jewelry. The museum’s permanent exhibition is housed within what it describes as one of the largest vaults in the world.
On November 13 and 14, that collection becomes the backdrop for an international program examining royal jewels from Portugal, Brazil, India and Europe — from medieval gemstones and Mughal turban jewels to historic diamond tiaras and the gemological examination and conservation of royal treasures.
Spain, mid-18th century; Portugal, 1940-1950 (tassel)
Emeralds, diamonds, silver, gilded silver
PNA, inv. 4779
©DGPC/ADF Luísa Oliveira
TREASURES 2026 — Day One
Friday, November 13 | 9:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
The colloquium opens with H.H. D. Maria Francisca de Bragança, Duchess of Coimbra, as special guest, along with representatives of the Royal Treasure Museum, Ajuda National Palace, ECCIA and Turismo de Lisboa.
Presentations include:
The Crown of King João VI: Genesis, Iconography, and the Political Significance of Portugal’s Last Royal Crown
The Imperial Crowns of Brazil
Maurício Vicente Ferreira Júnior, Director, Museu Imperial, Brazil
Crowns and Turban Jewels in Mughal India
Hugo Miguel Crespo, Centre for History, University of Lisbon, Portugal
Human and Divine: Tiaras and Crowns from the Albion Art Collection
Kasumi Arikawa and Odile Emanuelli, Albion Art Institute, Japan
Gemstones in Medieval Crowns
Albert Gilg, Technische Universität München, Germany
Panel: Cultural Heritage in the Jewellery Industry Today
Famed. Lost. Rediscovered. Jewels of the Habsburg Court Beyond Splendour and Sparkle
Beatrice Austerlitz, A. E. Köchert, Austria
under the direction of Pierre André Jacqmin (1720–1773)
France, Paris, 1755–1756. PNA inv. 4786 ©DGPC/ADF Luísa Oliveira
TREASURES 2026 — Day Two
Saturday, November 14 | 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
Conservation of The Crown of the Andes
Linda Borsch and Matthew Cumbie, Metropolitan Museum of Art, USA
The Star Tiara of Queen Maria Pia of Portugal: A Constellation of Diamonds
Teresa Maranhas, Palácio Nacional da Ajuda, Portugal
Panel: Crowns and Tiaras as Symbols
Examination of Historical Tiaras: Perspectives from a Gemmological Laboratory
Akitsugo Sato, SSEF, Switzerland
Fit for a Crown: A Detailed Look at a 17th-Century Aigrette
Suzanne van Leeuwen and Ellen van Bork, Rijksmuseum, Netherlands
Panel: Royal Families, Monarchs and Crowns
The Diamond Tiara of Queen Amélie d’Orléans and Braganza
Eduardo Alves Marques, Research Fellow, Palácio Nacional da Ajuda, Portugal
Portugal, Lisbon, 1868 – changed successively until 1908
Estêvão de Souza (act. 1839 – ca. 1880)
Diamonds, gold, silver
PNA, inv. 4722
©DGPC/ADF Luísa Oliveira
Lisbon Gem & Jewellery Tours — SOLD OUT
TREASURES 2026 also includes pre- and post-colloquium Lisbon Gem & Jewellery Tours with gemologist Rui Galopim de Carvalho on November 12 and 15.
Both tours — which include the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Museu de São Roque and Museu do Oriente, along with a private visit to the Royal Treasure Museum — are already sold out.
TREASURES 2026
November 13–14, 2026
Royal Treasure Museum — Ajuda National Palace
Lisbon, Portugal
