The Imperial Russian crown jewels, which have never before been shown to the public outside the former Soviet Union, have gone on display at the Israel Diamond Exchange in Ramat Gan.
The exhibition, billed as “The Treasures of Russia,” comprises 150 rough and cut diamonds and other precious stones, historical objects from the 18th and 19th centuries and a wealth of gold and silver artifacts.
The jewelry, on display at the diamond exchange’s Harry Oppenheimer Museum, was largely the work of European jewelers who went to the Czarist court to ply their craft.
Among them were jewelers of the House of Faberge, original designers of the famed Faberge eggs, which are encrusted with precious stones.
The collection itself was begun by Czar Peter I, who kept them in the Diamond Room of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg.
During the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, the treasures were transferred to the Kremlin and a special body, the Gokhran (State Depository of Russia), was established to care for it.
In 1991, the collection was placed under the authority of the State Department for Precious Stones and Metals. It is this body which finally, after months of negotiations, allowed the collection to begin a world tour at the Israel Diamond Exchange.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
