The Fabergé Museum in Saint Petersburg (russian: Музей Фаберже в Санкт-Петербурге) is a privately owned museum in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, Russia. It was established by Viktor Vekselberg and his Link of Times foundation in order to repatriate lost cultural valuables to Russia. The museum is located in

central Saint Petersburg Central Saint Petersburg is the central and the leading part of Saint Petersburg, Russia. It looks nothing like the downtown district of a typical major city, and has no skyscrapers. The Central Business District's main borders are Neva River ...

at the

Naryshkin-Shuvalov Palace The Naryshkin-Shuvalov Palace (russian: Дворец Нарышкиных-Шуваловых), also known as the Shuvalov Palace, is a Neoclassical building on the Fontanka Embankment in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Once home to the noble Naryshki ...

(21, Fontanka River Embankment) on the

Fontanka The Fontanka (russian: Фонтанка), a left branch of the river Neva, flows through the whole of Central Saint Petersburg, Russia – from the Summer Garden to . It is long, with a width up to , and a depth up to . The Moyka River for ...

River. The museum's collection contains more than 4,000 works of decorative applied and fine arts, including gold and silver items, paintings, porcelain and bronze. A highlight of the museum's collection is the group of nine Imperial Easter eggs created by Fabergé for the last two

Russian Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...

History

The idea of creating a special museum devoted to the creative work of the great Russian jeweler

Peter Carl Fabergé Peter Carl Fabergé, also known as Karl Gustavovich Fabergé (russian: Карл Гу́ставович Фаберже́, ''Karl Gustavovich Faberzhe''; 30 May 1846 – 24 September 1920), was a Russian jewellery, jeweller best known for the fam ...

came to the Link of Times foundation after the purchase by Viktor Vekselberg in 2004 of a unique collection of Fabergé masterpieces that had been owned by the late

Malcolm Forbes Malcolm Stevenson Forbes (August 19, 1919 – February 24, 1990) was an American entrepreneur most prominently known as the publisher of ''Forbes'' magazine, founded by his father B. C. Forbes. He was known as an avid promoter of capitalism ...

. Since then, the Link of Times foundation began building a collection of Russian decorative applied and fine arts, which contains more than 4,000 works. All of the Imperial Easter eggs in the museum's collection are connected to the rule and personal life of the last two Russian emperors: Alexander III and

Nicolas II Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...

. The Link of Times foundation began restoring the 18th-century Naryshkin-Shuvalov Palace (which is rented by the foundation) in St. Petersburg in 2006, with the goal of opening the museum in the palace. A significant amount of work was done over seven years to recreate the historical appearance of the palace. This was the first full-fledged restoration of the palace in its entire 200-year history. The official opening ceremony of the Fabergé Museum took place on 19 November 2013.

The collection

The Fabergé Museum's collection has nine Imperial Easter eggs that were made to the order of the last two Romanov Tsars. The eggs were bought by Vekselberg in 2004 from the family of the American newspaper magnate Malcolm Forbes. He purchased them just before they came up for auction, paying $100 million for the Forbes family's entire Fabergé collection. In total, there are fifteen Fabergé eggs in the Blue Room of Naryshkin-Shuvalov Palace, as well as a miniature picture frame in the form of a heart – the surprise from the lost Mauve egg of 1897.

List of Imperial Easter eggs

First Hen egg First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

* Renaissance egg *

Rosebud egg Rosebud may refer to: * Rose bud, the bud of a rose flower Arts * The name of Jerry Garcia's guitar from 1990 until his death in 1995. * In the 1941 film ''Citizen Kane'', the last words of Charles Foster Kane and an overall plot device. * "Ros ...

* Coronation egg * Lilies of the Valley egg * Cockerel egg * Fifteenth Anniversary egg * Bay Tree egg * Order of St. George egg File:Яйцо "Курочка".JPG, First Hen egg File:Renaissance egg.jpg, Renaissance egg File:Rosebud egg.jpg, Rosebud egg File:Fabergé egg Rome 05.JPG, Coronation egg File:Fabergé egg Rome 03.JPG, Lilies of the Valley egg File:Cockerel Fabergé egg.jpg, Cockerel egg File:Fifteenth Anniversary egg.jpg, Fifteenth Anniversary egg File:The Bay tree egg.jpg, Bay Tree egg File:Fabergé egg Rome 06.JPG, Order of St. George egg

List of other Fabergé eggs

* Kelch Hen egg * Kelch Chanticleer egg *

Duchess of Marlborough egg Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

* Resurrection egg * Scandinavian egg * Spring Flowers egg File:Kelch Hen (Fabergé egg).jpg, Kelch Hen egg File:Kelch Chanticleer egg.jpg, Kelch Chanticleer egg File:Duchess of Marlborough egg.jpg, Duchess of Marlborough egg File:Voskreshenie Faberge.jpg, Resurrection egg File:Fabergé egg Rome 08.JPG, Scandinavian egg

References

Faberge's New Home in Russia
- Video about the museum - WKYC-TV

External links