Essen Cathedral Treasury, Medieval church treasure at Burgplatz, Essen, Germany

The Essen Cathedral Treasury is a collection of Christian sacred objects kept in the cathedral treasury vault on Burgplatz in Essen, Germany. The objects range from reliquaries and processional crosses to sculptures and liturgical items, covering a span from the early medieval period to the early modern era.

The treasury comes from the former canonesses' foundation in Essen, founded in the 9th century and dissolved in the secularisation of 1803, when the church treasure passed to the parish of St Johann Baptist. In 1920 it was secretly taken to Hildesheim and returned in 1925; in the Second World War it was stored in the Hainer tunnel near Siegen, found there by American troops and shown in Brussels and Amsterdam in 1949. Since 1957 it has belonged to the Diocese of Essen, and the treasury chamber opened to the public in 1958.

The Golden Madonna, a late 10th-century wooden figure covered in gold leaf, is considered the oldest freestanding depiction of the Virgin Mary in the Western world and can be seen inside the treasury. Looking at her up close gives a clear sense of how these objects were made for everyday use in church ceremonies, not just for display.

The treasury chamber adjoins the Münsterkirche on Burgplatz in central Essen. It was first opened to the public without restriction in 1958 at the wish of Bishop Franz Hengsbach. The display was closed from 15 September 2008 to 15 May 2009 for a structural extension and reopened over seventy percent larger.

The two-metre bronze candelabrum in the Minster has seven arms, not the shape of a human arm, and dates from Ottonian times. It is kept in the church rather than in the treasury chamber, together with the Golden Madonna. The treasury also holds the Liber Ordinarius (Ms. 19), which records how such objects were used in the liturgy.