The Napoleon Tiara was a papal tiara

Papal Tiara

The Papal Tiara, also known incorrectly as the Triple Tiara, or in Latin as the Triregnum, in Italian as the Triregno and as the Trirègne in French, is the three-tiered jewelled papal crown, supposedly of Byzantine and Persian origin, that is a prominent symbol of the papacy...

 given to Pope Pius VII

Pope Pius VII

Pope Pius VII , born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti, was a monk, theologian and bishop, who reigned as Pope from 14 March 1800 to 20 August 1823.-Early life:...

 by Emperor

Emperor

An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...

 Napoleon I

Napoleon I

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...

 in 1805 following the pope's coronation of Napoleon as Emperor of the French

Emperor of the French

The Emperor of the French was the title used by the Bonaparte Dynasty starting when Napoleon Bonaparte was given the title Emperor on 18 May 1804 by the French Senate and was crowned emperor of the French on 02 December 1804 at the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, in Paris with the Crown of...

.

The tiara, which was of traditional papal tiara design, was designed and manufactured by Henry August and Marie-Etienne Nitot

Marie-Etienne Nitot

Marie-Etienne Nitot was a French jeweller and founder of the House of Chaumet. The official jeweller to Napoleon, he designed the Napoleon Tiara and the Imperial Sword.From the French article on the chaumet company which he founded:...

 of the House of Chaumet

Chaumet

The House of Chaumet , founded in 1780, is a high end jeweler based in Paris. -Contemporary period : Bankruptcy, Investcorp, LVMH :...

 in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. Some of the jewel

Gemstone

A gemstone or gem is a piece of mineral, which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments...

s and decoration for this tiara came from earlier tiaras smashed and stolen by the troops of the French Directory in 1798. The great emerald

Emerald

Emerald is a variety of the mineral beryl colored green by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes vanadium. Beryl has a hardness of 7.5–8 on the 10 point Mohs scale of mineral hardness...

 stolen by Napoleon's troops, which had once been on the Tiara of Pope Julius II, was placed on the tiara in the monde

Monde (crown)

A monde is a ball-like object located near the top of a crown. It is the point at which a crown's half arches meet. It is usually topped off either with a national or religious symbol, for example a cross in Christian countries....

.

Tiaras were traditionally in the region of 2 to 5 lb

Pound (mass)

The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the Imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...

 (0.9 to 2.3 kg

Kilogram

The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water...

) in weight. The Napoleon Tiara, however, was made a massive 18 lb (8 kg). In addition it was made too small to fit comfortably on a pope's head. It was speculated that both its weight and size were chosen to humiliate the pope, who could not wear such a tiara, or if he did, would risk serious neck injury.

In any case, neither Pius VII nor his successor wore it for reasons unconnected with its size and weight. They saw it as the product of Napoleon's theft as it was made from past tiaras French troops had stolen, and Napoleon who had driven Pius's predecessor into exile, had stolen the Vatican Archives and forced Pius against his will to preside over Napoleon's coronation

Coronation

A coronation is a ceremony marking the formal investiture of a monarch and/or their consort with regal power, usually involving the placement of a crown upon their head and the presentation of other items of regalia...

. The tiara originally contained three inscriptions glorifying Napoleon. After the fall of Napoleon, Cardinal Consalvi, the Cardinal Secretary of State

Cardinal Secretary of State

The Cardinal Secretary of State—officially Secretary of State of His Holiness The Pope—presides over the Holy See, usually known as the "Vatican", Secretariat of State, which is the oldest and most important dicastery of the Roman Curia...

, ordered the removal of the inscriptions.

The Vatican later adjusted the size of the tiara to enable it to be worn. It was used as the coronation tiara for a number of popes, most notably Pope Pius IX

Pope Pius IX

Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...

 on 21 June 1846.
It was last worn in the First Vatican Council

First Vatican Council

The First Vatican Council was convoked by Pope Pius IX on 29 June 1868, after a period of planning and preparation that began on 6 December 1864. This twentieth ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, held three centuries after the Council of Trent, opened on 8 December 1869 and adjourned...

 in 1870.

With the exception of the emerald in the monde, all the jewels were removed on papal orders and replaced by replicas made of coloured glass

Glass

Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...

 on the orders of Pope Benedict XV

Pope Benedict XV

Pope Benedict XV , born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, reigned as Pope from 3 September 1914 to 22 January 1922...

. The jewels were then sold, with the money raised used to aid victims of the First World War.