Faberge

Easter is the most important feast in the Russian Orthodox church. Decorated eggs are exchanged as symbols of renewed life and hope. The Easter of 1885 was also the twentieth anniversary of Czar Alexander III and Czarina Maria Fedorovan.

As a special gift for his wife, the Czar ordered the jeweler, Carl Fabergé to create a unique gift for Maria.

Hen Egg Fabergé delivered his creation to the palace on Easter morning. The Egg appeared to be a plan enabled egg. Inside the egg was a golden yolk that contained a golden hen. The golden hen contained a diamond miniature of the royal crown and a tiny ruby egg.

The Czar's wife was thrilled with her gift and all the hidden secrets it contained. Thus began the tradition of the Fabergé Imperial Easter eggs. The Czar commissioned Fabergé to deliver an Easter egg every year. The only conditions were that the egg must be a unique creation and must contain a surprise appropriate for the Empress.

Nicholas II became Czar when his father died of failed health in 1894. Nicholas preferred family life to that of a Czar and played the role of the ultimate conservative. He decided to maintain the established order of his father and was not open to change.

Nicholas continued on with the Fabergé Easter egg tradition established by his father and added commissions of Easter egg's for his mother and wife. The Imperial eggs were seen in public for the first time at the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris. Fabergé took jewelry to a new level and his works were considered unique creations of art. Demand for his creations spread across Europe, but he remained loyal to his first obligation to the Czar and incorporated his knowledge of the Romanov family into his creations..

In 1917, Nicholas was forced to abdicate his power and is arrested along with other family members. The Romanov's were later taken to Syberia. In 1918, Nicholas and his family are taken into a basement and executed. The only family member to survive was his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Fedorovna, who fled with the Order of St. George egg that she had received from her son.