The emblematic loans from the Moscow Historical Museum and the Kremlin Museum include priestly vestments, liturgical objects in precious metals, a collection of icons and a 17th century iconostasis in painted wood which illustrates the wealth of the church. A large choice of views of Moscow through oil paintings, maps, and engravings will show the extent of the capital.

The period known as “the century of gold” covering the years 1820-1870 saw a flourishing of Russian literature (Chekhov, Tolstoy), of music (Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky), of painting, and then, as in the rest of Europe, the return to one’s roots not only in architecture but also in the arts professions, which led to an exceptional production as shown in the famous Pan-Russian exhibition of 1882 in Moscow. It was the rediscovery of Russian past, that which is known as the Russian style, and which can be seen in a number of art objects: the glass dipper (kovch), the samovar and a table service called “Russkii style” coming from the Kouskovo Museum, one of the museums participating in this exhibition. Moscow triumphs like a “true” full-fledged artistic capital provided with artistic production centers in the fields of gold and silver work and porcelain.       

It was also the time when the imperial family as well as the great families in the Czar’s entourage—Prince Demidoff, Prince Orloff—placed orders with the famous firms such as Baccarat, Cartier and Fabergé. The exhibition presents magnificent jewelry and gold and silver work pieces, as well as the famous jeweled Fabergé Easter eggs created until 1917 for the Czars Alexander III and Nicholas II.

As regarding historical records, the exhibition plunges us into the personal life of the last of the Romanovs: the Czar Nicholas II. Through the Lausanne Elysée Museum’s incredible photographic collection, and films coming from the Krasnogorsk Federation of Russia’s cinematographic archives, the public will discover the moving story of the life of Nicholas II and his family.