Throughout the history of St. Petersburg, many prominent figures in the history of Russia have conterbute their talents and hard work to the development of the city. Many of those people were foreigners who had came to Russia, most by invitation, to help St. Petersburg reach to the level of the city that it is now. There were various great Italian architects, such as Domenico Trezzini and Carlo Rossi, who developed the city of St. Petersburg both as architectureal matter and also training young Russian minds to become the next generation of Russian architects who would replace the old techneques with new ones; you will see some of the works of those Italian architects on your tour to Russia. There were also several prominent French architects, such as Jean-Baptiste Le Blond, who have done all he could in his short presence in St. Petersburg to make it one of the most beautiful cities in Russia. Tourists can see their conterbution to St. Petersburg when they visit St. Petersburg during their Russia tour. However, Italian and French architects were not the only foreigners who have traveled to Russia; many German prominent artists were also among the people who have shaped St. Petersburg society, such as one of the most famous ones, Peter Carl Faberge.
Peter Carl Faberge was one of the most well-known jewelers in the world, who have made some of the most magnificent pieces of jewerlly for the imperial family of Russia during the reign of Alexander III and the Nicholas II. He was born in 1846 in St. Petersburg. His father Gustav Faberge, moved to St. Petersburg with his family in 1842. Gustav who was one of the finest jewerllers of that time, opened up the house of Faberge to continue his work on jewelry. However, in the 1860s, the entire family had moved to Dresden, but the house of Fabrege kept open and continued to make magnificent pieces of Jewerly. Peter Carl Faberge studied in several different places, such as Dresden and Frankfurt to get ready to take over the family business, which was making jewerlly. He moved back to St. Petersburg in 1872 and started his work in the House of Faberge. During that time, The House of Faberge commissioned to restore the the Hermitage’s Jewerlly collection besides their routine work, which back then was making jewerlly in French Style. It was in 1882, when Carl Faberge named Master Jeweller in All-Russia exhibition in Moscow; his work was praised by the tsar Alexander III, who had bought a pair of cufflinks from Faberge’s collection, which kept in the Hermitage’s collection.
In 1885, Carl Faberge had received his first commission for making the first Faberge egg. Tsar Alexander III had ordered Faberge to make the First Hen Egg for his wife Empress Maria Fyodorovna. That easter egg was the first of the collection that would dominate the world of jewerlly. However, the easter eggs were not the only thing that house of Faberge made throughout its work in Russia, they had also ornaments, other types of jewellry, and silver tableware. The House of Faberge had became the largest jewellry manufactor in Russia by producing more than 150 thousand pieces of work till the October Revolution of 1917. The House of Faberge was so successful during Carl’s management that they commissioned Carl Schmidt to build new premises for the company on Bolshaya Morskaya Ulitsa. The new Art Nouveau building contained the main store, apartments for the family, and several workshops for craftsmen.
The House of Faberge, like many other private business during that time, was nationalized after the October Revolution, and Carl Faberge himself left Russia with the last diplomatic train to Latvia. Like many others, Carl Faberge loved St. Petersburg and his work in there, which forcing to leave it crushed their souls. He died three years later in Lausanne at the age of 72 in 1920.
Faberge Eggs were one of the most successful projects of House of Faberge. They had made around 70 easter eggs for the imperial family from 1885 until the October Revolution, which only 57 of them had survived today. However, since Faberge made easter eggs only for the imperial family, smaller versions of these eggs, which could be worn as pendants became quite popular among noble families and high-class citizens of St. Petersburg. These eggs were mostly gift to the empresses from tsars. Alexander III had gifted several of these eggs to his wife Empress Maria Fyodorovna, and Nicholas II did the same for his wife, Alexandra Fyodorovna, and his mother as well. The imperial eggs were jewerlly in shape of an egg, which mostly featured a surprise jewerlly inside them. After the revolution, most of the imperial eggs disappeard, and about a dozen of them are still missing. However, not all of the easter eggs that have been recovered are now in Russia, some of the resurfaced in other museums in the world and even in private collections, but if you want to check out some of the imperial eggs on your tour to Russia, about fifteen of them are displaying in Faberge Museum, which is one of the major attractions of St. Petersburg on Russia tour.
The Faberge Museum locates inside the Shuvalov Palace, which was one of the masterworks of Giacomo Quarenghi in 1799. However, many architects had reconstructed the palace afterward. In 2004, Viktor Vekselberg had decided to return Russian artefacts and significant cultural artworks to Russia, one of which was Faberge eggs. He bought nine Fabergé eggs for $100 million to start the work on creating the Faberge Museum. Currently, Faberge Museum has around 4000 exhibits and considered as one of the top St. Petersburg attractive places on the Russia tour. Many travel agencies suggest the Faberge Museum on their tour to Russia program, including us at the Star Travel Company, mainly because of the easter eggs, but also because it has various pieces of jewerlly that can show you the advance development of creating art within jewerlly in Russia in that time. It also locates inside the Shuvalov Palace, which can be one of the top architectural attractions of the Russia tour.
We at the Star Travel Group recommend our tourists to visit our weblog if they have plans to travel to Russia any time soon; we have covered lots of sections about traveling to Russia, including the top attractive places that you can visit on your tour to Russia, top shopping centers in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and various tips and pieces of advice which will help you during your trip to Russia.
