14. Fabulous Fabergé
The Fabergé Museum in Saint Petersburg is a privately owned museum, founded by the Link of Times cultural-historical foundation in order to repatriate lost cultural valuables to Russia. The museum is located in the center of St. Petersburg in Shuvalov Palace on the Fontanka River.
The Fabergé Museum contains the world’s largest collection of works by jeweler Carl Fabergé, including nine of the famous Imperial Easter Eggs, created by Fabergé for the last two Russian tsars – Alexander III and Nicolas II. The eggs are regarded not only as the finest jeweled works of art but also unique historical artifacts. The collection includes approximately 1,500 works of art by Fabergé, covering all areas of Fabergé’s activity – monumental silver, colorful Muscovite enamels and a multitude of cigarette cases, bell-pushes, frames, clocks and belt buckles in elegant transparent guilloché enamels.
The museum’s collection also contains more than 4,000 works of decorative applied and fine arts such as gold and silver items, paintings, porcelain and bronze by other Russian masters of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
50 Imperial Eggs were made in St. Petersburg by Fabergé, 43 of which have survived. Each was given as a lavish Easter gift by the last two tsars to their wives and mothers. Every Imperial Egg, whether gold or agate, enameled or jeweled, is exquisite. Highlights include the Renaissance Egg, made of opaque, white agate and dotted with diamonds; and the Lilies of the Valley Egg, an Art Nouveau confection of pearls and pink enamel. The most famous and most valuable is the Coronation Egg – a sunburst of yellow enamel wrapped within a jeweled web. The Imperial Eggs were created by Fabergé and his company between 1885 and 1917.
After the 1918 Russian Revolution and massacre of the ruling family, the Imperial Eggs were scattered widely, ending up in collections worldwide. Three are owned by Queen Elizabeth II; 10 are in Moscow; seven are lost; and the nine on display at the Fabergé Museum formed part of the Forbes Collection in America until they were bought in 2004 by Viktor Vekselberg, one of the wealthiest men in Russia, for $100 million.
Vekselberg also bought and restored the glorious Shuvalov Palace to house his collection. Besides the Imperial Eggs, there are snuff boxes, figurines and fabulous objets d’art from the House of Fabergé, as well as other noted Russian jewelers, plus a gallery of classical Russian paintings and a room filled with religious icons.
The idea of creating a special museum devoted to the creative work of Fabergé came to the Link of Times foundation after Vekselberg purchased the unique collection of 200 Fabergé masterpieces that had been owned by media magnate Malcolm Forbes. Since then, the Link of Times foundation began building a collection of Russian decorative applied and fine arts.
The Link of Times foundation began restoring the 18th-century Shuvalov Palace (which is rented by the foundation) in St. Petersburg in 2006, with the goal of opening the museum in the palace. An enormous 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 200-year history. The official opening ceremony of the Fabergé Museum took place on November 19, 2013.
In total, there are 15 Fabergé eggs in the Blue Room of Shuvalov Palace. These include the First Hen Egg; the Renaissance Egg; the Coronation Egg; the Lilies of the Valley Egg; the Cockerel Egg; the Fifteenth Anniversary Egg; the Bay Tree Egg; and the Order of St. George Egg.