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The Gold Room
The Gold Room is a Treasure gallery located
in the Hermitage museum. Two sections
demonstrate the
gold
jewelry of ancient nomadic tribes of Russia
and jewelry pieces from the Gallery of Jewelry of the
Imperial
Hermitage created in more recent times.
The Gold Room
collection of antiquities includes a large number of
gold
artifacts: bracelets, rings, earrings, female and male
clothes decorations. The earliest works in the Gold
Room
date back to 4th-3rd millennium B.C. First ancient
goldsmiths' works came from the Siberian Collection of
Peter the Great. Those were discovered in the period when
the Russians intensively colonized Siberia. Scythian gold
jewelry was found in the southern areas of Russia during
archeological excavations in the late XVIII century onwards.
Greek gold jewelry was found on the Northern Black Sea
coast, ancient location of Greek towns and colonies.
Among the religious objects of
the Gold Room are rich icons once owned by
the imperial family. All of them are clad in gold mounts,
adorned with brilliant-cut diamonds or the most precious
gemstones such as emeralds, sapphires, rubies and pearls.
Major part of the Gold
Room
is occupied with secular jewelry that belonged to the
Imperial collection.
At all times Russian czars lived
in wealth and luxury. According to the evidence of W.Cox, a
traveler who visited St.Petersburg in 1778, "the wealth and
luxury of the Russian court surpassed the most sumptuous
descriptions: the traces of old Asiatic magnificence were
blended with European refinement ... The wealth and glitter
of court attire and abundance of gemstones leave far behind
the splendor of other European courts ... While in European
courts precious stones were only on ladies' clothes, in
Russia men rivaled women in self-decoration: nearly all
dignitaries were studded with brilliant-cut diamonds -
buttons, buckles, saber hilts, epaulettes and hats."
The Hermitage museum owns a
pearl pendant that had allegedly belonged to the famous
pirate Sir Francis Drake. Its creation was connected with
his round-the-world voyage of 1557-80 and his promotion to
Vice-Admiral of the British Fleet by Queen Elizabeth.
German jewelers produced a 46
items gold toilet set for Empress Anna Ioanovna. It includes
gold teapots, coffee-cups, wash-stands, candlesticks, trays
and caskets. After her death the gold set was used only for
dressing royal brides before wedding ceremonies.
Empress Elizabeth purchased many
fashionable articles from Europe: English watches, necessers
(toiletry cases), brooches, hair decorations of gem stones.
Catherine the Great opened a
"diamond treasury" in the Winter palace. She kept there a
great number of orders, snuff-boxes, watches and chains,
gold sword hilts. Before the October Revolution there were 2
famous diamonds in Russia - the Orlov Diamond weighing 194,8
carats mounted into the Catherine's scepter, and the Shah
Diamond weighing 88,7 carats presented by the Shah of Iran.
They are now on display in the Diamond Fund of
Russia.
Probably, the most striking
object in the Gold Room collection is a
horse attire presented to Nicolas I by the Sultan of the
Ottoman Empire - Makhmud. The saddle cloth is encrusted with
more than 16,000 diamonds.
One of the last sections of the
Gold Room is a collection of works by Carl Faberge and his
goldsmiths.
Hermitage Gold Room
will strike you with its size and abundance of priceless
jewelry pieces, though it requires great stamina from you
(excursion may last 40-60 minutes).
Remark: it is
necessary to book a tour to Gold
Room in advance. Exact time of excursion is
booked for each group. Photo is not permitted inside!
Closed: on Mondays
Back to
Hermitage museum
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