The St Petersburg Collection was founded in 1985 by Theo Fabergé, grandson of the ‘Great Carl’ Fabergé, who had in mind to create Easter eggs in dedication to the most celebrated palaces of St Petersburg. His dream is now a reality, with a growing collection of Theo Fabergé’s amazing creations having become a tradition.

The cooperation between the St Petersburg Collection and the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Preserve began in 1999 when the Alexander Palace Egg was made, on which the palace, hand-painted on fine lead crystal, was depicted rising from the mist. The creation was surmounted by the Imperial crown, set with a cabochon ruby; the base was ornamentally turned on Theo Fabergé's 1861 Holtzapffel lathe. On the reverse of the Egg, looking beyond the lake, the surprise was the cipher of Alexander III fluttering in the breeze, above the palace mirrored in the water.

Back then, Mr Philip Birkenstein, Chairman of the St Petersburg Collection, was keen to donate to the Museum some of the historical items he had gathered. That started the cooperation between Tsarskoye Selo and the UK-based Company, whose financial help allowed to bring back to our collection a number of precious objects that had belonged to the Alexander Palace.