Russian Billionaire To Bring His Faberge Eggs To The Vatican

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Feb 17th 2011 at 11:00PM

Through his Link of Times Foundation, Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg has made it his personal mission to repatriate cultural and historical objects taken out from Russia in the 20th century. Toward that mission, Vekselberg has amassed a large collection of Faberge eggs made by Pyotr Karlovich Faberge and brought them back to Russia. Now he's sending them back out into the world. RIA Novosti reports that Vekselberg has worked with the Vatican to bring the Faberge eggs to the Holy See Museum for a new exhibition.

Before the Russian Revolution in 1917, Faberge's jewelry company in St. Petersburg manufactured some of the world's most beautiful jewels and objects for the Russia's imperial family. The most famous of his works are the intricate Easter eggs which have become some of the world's most collectible bejeweled items.

Vekselberg worked for over a year to arrange the exhibit which begins on April 14. There will be a total of 180 exhibit pieces which show the history of Russia and tsar's family. The House of Faberge created a total of 54 Imperial eggs for Alexander III and Nicholas II as gifts for their wives and family and 42 of these eggs remain today. Vekselberg purchased Faberge works from the Forbes family in 2004. Malcolm Forbes was a famous collector of Faberge eggs. That collection included nine Imperial Easter eggs and another 190 items, including brooches, inkwells and smoking accessories. Vekselberg said he paid over $90 million for the collection.

Tags: faberge eggs, holy see museum, vatican, viktor vekselberg