Exploring Russia’s Jeweled Past

A TALE OF TRIUMPH, TRAGEDY AND PRESERVATION

One of Russia’s most popular visitor attractions is the Diamond Fund public exhibit in Moscow’s Kremlin Armoury. The highlight of this exhibit is the Great Imperial Crown, which gleams with 4,936 diamonds, 74 large pearls, and a 398.6-carat red spinel. This 260-year-old royal crown is the preeminent symbol of the splendor and elegance—and some say, the excess—of imperial Russia’s Romanov Dynasty.

As part of Russia’s Ministry of Finance, the Diamond Fund was established more than 300 years ago during the reign of Peter the Great. Today, it maintains one of the world’s great gem collections. Its story is an epic of gemological triumph, personal tragedy, political upheaval and, ultimately, preservation and renewed growth.

After imperial Russia ended abruptly with the 1917 Russian Revolutions, the Diamond Fund endured two decades of chaos, theft, mismanagement, and liquidation. But the Fund’s fortunes have since improved markedly; its collection now includes many of Russia’s original crown jewels and coronation regalia, some of the world’s most historic gems, elaborate Romanov jewelry, and spectacular diamonds from modern Russia’s mines.

ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS UNLESS NOTED. The replica Great Imperial Crown, made in 2012 at a cost of $15.5 million, is set with 11,426 diamonds, 74 large natural pearls, and a 398-carat, purplishred, irregular, red tourmaline.

Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Empress Alexandra Romanov, and their five children as they appeared in 1913; the entire family was executed at Yekaterinburg in July 1918.