Faberge Museum To Open In Germany

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Apr 7th 2009 at 7:02PM

Russian tycoon and Faberge collector, Alexander Ivanov tells Bloomberg that the high cost of building and Russian bureaucracy doomed his plans to have the world's only museum dedicated to the Russian Imperial jeweler Faberge in Russia. Instead Ivanov is taking his incredible 3,000-piece collection to Baden-Baden, Germany. The collection is said to be worth around $1.5 billion and includes a famous Rothschild egg, created in 1902 as an engagement gift to Baron Edouard de Rothschild. The egg has a clock and a diamond-set bird that pops up every hour. Ivanov bought the egg in 2007 at a Christie's auction for £8.9 million. The egg will be part of the inaugural exhibit which showcases the finest of Ivanov's treasures.

Ivanov's museum cost around $22 million to build. He says he chose Baden-Baden because it has been always been a popular resort for Russians and because the town was supportive to the idea. The Hermitage had also been planning a Faberge museum but those plans have stalled out due to lack of funding. It will cost 20 euros to visit the Faberge Museum and Ivanov is hoping to get up to half a million visitors each year.

Tags: baden-baden, faberge, faberge egg, FabergeEgg, museum