The Faberge Museum is one of the most interesting art museums in St. Petersburg. It is located in the Naryshkin-Shuvalov Palace, on the banks of the Fontanka River near Nevsky Avenue. Here you can see the famous masterpieces of jewelry art: Faberge Easter eggs. The museum also has a collection of paintings by Russian artists and applied jewelry art.
The Faberge Museum was created on the initiative of Viktor Vekselberg in 2014. In 2004, he bought a collection of Russian jewelry, which American millionaire Malcolm Forbes had been collecting for more than 20 years. It contains several hundred valuable items of Faberge jewelry company, which was founded by Gustav Faberge in 1842 in St. Petersburg. Also in the museum there are jewelry items made by other Russian jewelers.
The most valuable exhibits of the Faberge Museum: 8 Faberge Easter eggs. All Faberge Easter eggs are recognized world masterpieces of jewelry art. The first Faberge egg was made by order of Emperor Alexander III in 1885. He gave it to his wife Maria Feodorovna for Easter. This egg is called a "Chicken". It looks like an ordinary egg, but the white is made of white enamel, and the yolk is made of gold. Such gifts became very popular among the members of the royal Russian Romanov dynasty.
In the period from 1885 to 1917, Faberge produced 52 Easter eggs. When the Bolsheviks came to power, they sold the Faberge egg collection to America, so nowadays most of the Faberge Easter eggs are kept in museums and private collections in the USA. The Bolsheviks left only 10 Faberge eggs in Russia and handed them over to the Armory of the Moscow Kremlin.
The return of 8 Faberge Easter eggs to Russia was a big event. For several years, the Viktor Vekselberg Foundation has been buying other Faberge items at auctions. His collection has great artistic value. In 2014, Vekselberg decided to make it accessible to the public, and created a private museum in St. Petersburg. The collection includes silverware, enameled tableware, precious haberdashery, interior items, icons in precious Faberge rizas.
The city authorities of St. Petersburg have placed the collection of the Faberge Museum in the Naryshkin-Shuvalov Palace on the Fontanka river. The palace on Fontanka was built in 1780 by the architect Quarenghi, although his authorship has not been confirmed. Since 1790, the Naryshkin dukes owned the palace. The palace acquired its current eclectic appearance in 1844. It was reconstructed by Lev Naryshkin for his only daughter, who in 1846 married Peter Shuvalov.
The Viktor Vekselberg Foundation has completely restored the Naryshkin-Shuvalov Palace. Therefore, in addition to the Faberge collection, the palace interiors of the halls are also of great interest. Faberge Easter eggs are kept in the Blue Living Room. There are also Golden and Red Halls, a Knight`s Hall, a Gothic Hall, a beautiful grand staircase and other ceremonial halls.
