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The Green Vault, in Dresden, Germany, is believed to be Europe’s earliest official museum. It opened its doors to a paying public in 1723 under the aegis of August II the Strong, elector of Saxony, king of Poland and collector extraordinaire, who was born in the city in 1670. Today, walking through its magnificent exhibits of royal treasures that range from gilded figurines to bejeweled weapons, you can’t help but feel a kinship with those first 18th-century visitors and share the awe they must have felt viewing the fanciful pieces on display. Heavily damaged during World War II, the Green Vault reopened in September 2006, its nine exhibition rooms restored to their original Baroque glory with wood-paneled and mirrored walls, vaulted ceilings, painted doorways and marble floors.

Each room is named after the main material—amber, ivory, silver, bronze, jewels—of the riches it holds, all displayed without partitions to facilitate close inspection. Many of the thousands of handcrafted objects manifest a level of craftsmanship unmatched even today: the tiny ivory figurines carved by sculptor Balthasar Permoser in the 1720s, a whimsical 18th-century chess set made entirely of amber, a gem-adorned chalcedony bowl created by legendary goldsmith Johann Melchior Dinglinger in 1712, among others. Take some time in the Jewel Room—the Green Vault’s pièce de résistance, housing Europe’s largest collection of precious stones—to marvel at the ingenious interior design, with wall mirrors placed to reflect the sparkling displays in infinite regression.

The restoration of the Green Vault marks the completion of a series of such projects, including the lengthy renovation of the Frauenkirche, Dresden’s towering cathedral, which reopened in 2005 (the city’s Baroque architecture was devastated by firebombing in World War II and by flooding in 2002). With the scaffolding removed from its major buildings, Dresden as a whole, like the Green Vault, now feels like an exquisite jewelry box that has finally rediscovered its luster—for good.

INDAGARE TIP: Green Vault tickets are for specific time slots and must be purchased well in advance, since only 100 visitors an hour are permitted into the exhibitions. Be sure to arrive on time; latecomers are not allowed in. And rent the excellent audioguide, available in English, which highlights the most important pieces. If you stay at one of Dresden’s top hotels, like the Hotel Taschenbergpalais Kempinski (rooms from $265; 49-351-49-120; www.kempinski-dresden.de) or the Bülow Residenz (rooms from $340; 49-351-80-030; www.buelow-residenz.de), the concierge can reserve your tickets.