MOSCOW, February 10, 2004. (RIA Novosti correspondents Olga Lipich) -Russian tycoon Viktor Vekselberg, who has just bought a Faberge jewelry collection from the Forbes family, says he will put his acquisitions on public display across Russia. Yekaterinburg, in the Urals region, will be the first exhibition venue for the collection, which includes nine Easter eggs commissioned to Peter Carl Faberge by Russian Emperor Nicholas II.
According to the Yekaterinburg Bishopric's press service, Vekselberg has chosen the city as the first destination for his traveling exhibition because it was here that the Emperor and his family died a matyr's death, an event commemorated by the local Cathedral of All Saints.
The Faberge exhibit in Yekaterinburg is expected to open some time during the Orthodox Easter season. Its centerpiece will be what is known as the Coronation Egg, the one that Nicholas II offered to his spouse Alexandra Fyodorovna in 1897 to mark his ascent to the throne.
The collection will then be shown to the public in other Russian cities, including Tyumen, Irkutsk, Moscow, and St. Petersburg.
