Handpicked experience · St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg, Russia
The Soviet government sold these eggs abroad for hard currency; nine of them came home in a single purchase in 2004, days before the collection was to be auctioned apart.
Objects that made a round trip out of the country and home again
Craftsmanship that only reveals itself when something opens
A palace interior that is part of the exhibit
The working side of a firm better known for its showpieces
An indoor visit that holds up in any weather
A four-hour guided visit to the Fabergé Museum in St Petersburg, housed in the restored Shuvalov Palace on the Fontanka, with reserved timed entry, expert commentary and time afterwards to look on your own.
The most important thing to understand about this collection is that it left the country.
In the 1920s and 1930s the Soviet government sold imperial treasures abroad for hard currency, and the Fabergé eggs went with them — dispersed to collectors in Europe and the United States, where they stayed for the better part of a century. The largest private group ended up in the Forbes family collection in New York.
In 2004, days before that group was to be broken up and auctioned, it was bought entire by a Russian buyer and brought home. Nine imperial eggs came back in that one transaction, and they are the reason this museum exists. You are looking at objects that made a full round trip out of Russia and back within a hundred years.
An imperial egg is not an ornament. It is a container built around a hidden surprise, and the surprise was the point.
The first, made for Easter 1885, opens to a gold yolk, which opens to a hen, which holds a miniature crown. The Coronation Egg contains a working model of the carriage that carried the empress to the ceremony, complete with functioning suspension, opening doors and steps that fold down. Others hold portraits, clocks and mechanical birds that sing.
About fifty were made for the imperial family between 1885 and 1916. Not all of them survive, and several are known only from photographs and inventories.
A dealer in the United States bought a small gold object at a market in the early 2000s, intending to melt it for the metal.
It sat unsold for years because scrap buyers thought he was asking too much for it. Eventually he searched online for a name engraved on the little clock inside — and found he was holding the Third Imperial Egg, missing since the Revolution. It survived because nobody would take it off his hands.
Worth setting expectations: the eggs occupy a single room. The rest of the museum is silver, enamel, cigarette cases, icons, hardstone animals and the everyday luxury goods that the firm actually lived on.
That is the more revealing half. Fabergé was a working house with hundreds of craftsmen producing thousands of objects a year, and the eggs were the annual showpiece rather than the business.
The palace interiors are part of the visit and the staircase is grand rather than convenient. Photography is restricted in some rooms and staff will tell you where. Bags above a certain size go to the cloakroom, so travel light.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
The Soviet government sold imperial treasures abroad for hard currency in the 1920s and 1930s, and they were dispersed to collectors in Europe and America.
In 2004 a Russian buyer purchased the largest private group entire, days before it was to be broken up and auctioned. Nine imperial eggs returned at once.
A hidden surprise, which was the whole point. The first opens to a yolk, then a hen, then a miniature crown.
A large workshop, not one man. Fabergé employed hundreds of craftsmen, and individual masters signed the pieces they led.
About fifty for the imperial family between 1885 and 1916. Not all survive; several are known only from photographs and inventories.
A dealer bought it to melt down for the metal, could not shift it for years, and identified it by searching a name engraved on the clock inside.
No. They occupy one room. The rest is silver, enamel, icons, cigarette cases and hardstone animals.
In some rooms only. Staff will tell you where restrictions apply.