0:00:02 > 0:00:03On Easter morning, 1987,
0:00:03 > 0:00:07the Empress of Russia discovered this extraordinary
0:00:07 > 0:00:11diamond and ruby-encrusted egg on her breakfast table.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15It was a gift from her husband, Tsar Nicholas II,
0:00:15 > 0:00:19to commemorate their coronation the previous summer.
0:00:19 > 0:00:24It had been made by the Imperial jewellers, the House of Faberge.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27And there was a fantastic novelty inside -
0:00:27 > 0:00:33a replica of the 18th-century Russian state coach.
0:00:33 > 0:00:38The wheels are made of platinum, and it's diamond-encrusted.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40That's quite a roof rack on there.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46This was a miniature version of the coach in which the Empress
0:00:46 > 0:00:48had travelled to the ceremony in Moscow.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54This dazzling treasure, now known as the Coronation Egg,
0:00:54 > 0:00:59has led a turbulent life since the demise of its original owners.
0:00:59 > 0:01:05But in April 2004, it was listed for auction by Sotheby's in New York.
0:01:05 > 0:01:10The upper estimate was an astonishing 24 million.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20If it reached its estimate,
0:01:20 > 0:01:24this one piece of Russian Imperial heritage would become
0:01:24 > 0:01:28the most expensive item of decorative art ever sold at auction.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32It was part of a collection of nine Imperial Easter eggs amassed
0:01:32 > 0:01:37over the previous 40 years by the Forbes Foundation in New York.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41But that sale never took place.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45Just six weeks before the auction, the lots were withdrawn.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48The international art world was stunned to discover that
0:01:48 > 0:01:51a private sale had been agreed.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54Oil and gas magnate Viktor Vekselberg
0:01:54 > 0:01:57had bought all the eggs for an undisclosed sum.
0:01:57 > 0:02:02I am about to meet my first Russian oligarch.
0:02:02 > 0:02:08Viktor's not short of cash. He's worth something over 15 billion.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11I wanted to ask him about this spectacular repatriation
0:02:11 > 0:02:15of his nation's heritage, but he's a busy man.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19Then, an hour ago, his people phoned and told me to come
0:02:19 > 0:02:22to a central Moscow hotel.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26'Viktor has a very impressive gallery here, displaying some
0:02:26 > 0:02:30'of the pretty things he's collected since he came by his billions.'
0:02:30 > 0:02:35Just between us, how much did you pay for those Faberge eggs?
0:02:35 > 0:02:38Slightly more than 100 million.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41And was it worth it, spending all that money?
0:02:41 > 0:02:46If you ask me what valuation, what real price for that,
0:02:46 > 0:02:51really, for me, it is difficult to say to you what it is.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54But do you have a warm glow inside?
0:02:54 > 0:02:56Absolutely. I have this warm glow, yes.
0:02:58 > 0:03:03I can only imagine the warm glow you get from spending 100 million,
0:03:03 > 0:03:06but how did an obscure Russian craftsman become
0:03:06 > 0:03:09the most sought-after jeweller in Europe,
0:03:09 > 0:03:14and why do the eggs fetch such astronomical prices?
0:03:14 > 0:03:15Partly, it's their rarity.
0:03:15 > 0:03:19Faberge made just 50 of these unique pieces,
0:03:19 > 0:03:23each one reflecting a chapter in the life and loves of the Romanov tsars,
0:03:23 > 0:03:27a ruling elite who seemed to be sleepwalking towards revolution.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36But perhaps most significantly,
0:03:36 > 0:03:39it was the man who created these extraordinary objects.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42A man who took the artistry of jewellery-making to the very
0:03:42 > 0:03:46limits of perfection, running a vast company that
0:03:46 > 0:03:48catered for the most demanding clients,
0:03:48 > 0:03:53supplying everything from a matchbox to a monumental mantelpiece clock.
0:03:53 > 0:03:59Faberge worked in a world that is lost to us today. A world where a
0:03:59 > 0:04:04single empire covered a sixth of the planet, spanning three continents.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10A world that was ruled by one autocratic, omnipotent tsar,
0:04:10 > 0:04:13whose story would be fused with his own.
0:04:15 > 0:04:21A world where fastidious craftsmanship was prized above all else.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23This was the world of Carl Faberge.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38TRAIN HORN BLASTS
0:04:39 > 0:04:44The Faberge story begins a generation before Carl worked for the tsars.
0:04:44 > 0:04:49In 1860, his father, Gustav, left St Petersburg
0:04:49 > 0:04:52and arrived with his young family in Dresden, in the Kingdom of Saxony.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56At just 46, he had decided to retire,
0:04:56 > 0:05:00leaving his jewellery shop in the charge of a trusted manager.
0:05:00 > 0:05:07The impetus for his move west was the education of his young son, Peter Carl Faberge.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10St Petersburg was Russia's window on the West. It was as western
0:05:10 > 0:05:13as Russia was going to get, but it was still fundamentally
0:05:13 > 0:05:16the capital of an Oriental Empire, with oriental tastes.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21If Gustav Faberge wanted his son to understand Western art
0:05:21 > 0:05:23and Western jewellery-making in particular,
0:05:23 > 0:05:26he really did have to get outside Russia to do that.
0:05:26 > 0:05:31The boy was only 14, but he was a chip off the old block,
0:05:31 > 0:05:35or gemstone, exhibiting a precocious talent for jewellery-making.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39Who knows, he might even one day eclipse his old man.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43His father wanted to open his eyes to the finest that Western
0:05:43 > 0:05:46civilisation had to offer,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49and Dresden was the perfect place to start.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52CHURCH BELL TOLLS
0:05:52 > 0:05:58This was largely due to the modern sensibilities of its former ruler,
0:05:58 > 0:06:00Augustus the Strong.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06There was no shortage of art collections in Europe.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10The trouble was, they tended to be the private playthings
0:06:10 > 0:06:15of whichever king, prince or margrave ran the place at the time.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19But the people of Dresden were very lucky with Augustus the Strong here,
0:06:19 > 0:06:24because not only did he love his bling, he loved to show it off too.
0:06:24 > 0:06:30In the 1720s, he took the exceptional step of opening his collection to the public.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37Today, the Green Vaults of Dresden Castle still have
0:06:37 > 0:06:40one of the largest collections of jewellery in Europe.
0:06:41 > 0:06:47The most extraordinary pieces were made for Augustus in the early 18th century.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50He seems to have been just as fond of precious stones
0:06:50 > 0:06:54as he was of gold, and if you spend any time in these rooms,
0:06:54 > 0:06:56it can easily become infectious.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00It's hard to think of anywhere that would give a better opportunity
0:07:00 > 0:07:04to an aspiring young craftsman like Carl Faberge
0:07:04 > 0:07:06than this magnificent museum.
0:07:06 > 0:07:11And we know that Faberge came here and studied its treasures minutely,
0:07:11 > 0:07:17because some of the designs would reappear later in his creations.
0:07:20 > 0:07:25Some 30 years after his teenage stay in Dresden, Carl made this egg
0:07:25 > 0:07:28for Tsar Alexander III that was unmistakeably
0:07:28 > 0:07:32a copy of this casket in the collection of the Green Vault.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39Over the next few years, Carl Faberge criss-crossed Europe,
0:07:39 > 0:07:43absorbing what he could from the great jewellery collections of the continent.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47He also spent time in Frankfurt as an apprentice to a goldsmith.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53At all events, by 1864, Carl Faberge, now 18,
0:07:53 > 0:07:58had absorbed all he could from the great treasure houses of Europe.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00It was time to go home.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11When Carl Faberge returned to the city of his birth,
0:08:11 > 0:08:17the vast Russian Empire stretched from Poland to Alaska.
0:08:17 > 0:08:24A nation of 120 million people of varying race, religion and language.
0:08:24 > 0:08:30St Petersburg was unlike any other city in the Empire.
0:08:30 > 0:08:37It was a purpose-built Imperial capital whose wide streets and classical architecture
0:08:37 > 0:08:41took inspiration from the elegant cities of western Europe.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47At the centre of the city was the official residence of the Tsar,
0:08:47 > 0:08:49the Winter Palace.
0:08:49 > 0:08:54And just a few hundred metres away, at 11 Bolshaya Morskaya Street,
0:08:54 > 0:08:55was his father's shop.
0:08:59 > 0:09:05This is now a branch of a well-known fast food chain, but back in 1864,
0:09:05 > 0:09:09it was Faberge's workshops, producing brooches,
0:09:09 > 0:09:13necklaces and cases for cigarettes and spectacles.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17They were well-respected, but there was little to distinguish them from their competitors,
0:09:17 > 0:09:21and despite the fact that the Winter Palace was just around the corner,
0:09:21 > 0:09:25they weren't doing any business with the Tsar and his family either.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33But this was a great opportunity for Carl.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36He began to haunt the vast halls of the Hermitage Museum,
0:09:36 > 0:09:39which took up a considerable part of the palace,
0:09:39 > 0:09:44and since the 1850s, had been open to the public, allowing the masses
0:09:44 > 0:09:48to gaze in awe at the accumulated wealth of the Romanov Dynasty.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54Initially, Carl paid his kopecks for admittance along with
0:09:54 > 0:09:59everyone else, but before long, he was working as an unpaid volunteer,
0:09:59 > 0:10:02restoring the jewellery in the Imperial collection.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06He was particularly interested in a newly-discovered hoard of gold
0:10:06 > 0:10:11artefacts, made in the 4th century BC, that were being excavated
0:10:11 > 0:10:13in the town of Kerch, on the Black Sea coast.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19Faberge got permission to catalogue and restore these items,
0:10:19 > 0:10:21and eventually, to do his own replicas of them.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25This was a stroke of business genius for him because these pieces would
0:10:25 > 0:10:27turn out to be very popular with the Russian public.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31The jewellery had some of the most remarkable, fine goldwork in it
0:10:31 > 0:10:34that had really not been done since.
0:10:34 > 0:10:36By trying to replicate it, Faberge developed
0:10:36 > 0:10:39the skills of the jewellers who were working for him,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42and he also developed his own design skills at the same time.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49It wasn't long before these new design skills got him noticed.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57Now you'll just have to use your imagination here for a second.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05This is Khodynka Field, in the suburbs of Moscow, and it was
0:11:05 > 0:11:09the site of the All-Russian Exhibition of the arts and sciences.
0:11:09 > 0:11:15For four months back in 1882, this field was covered by 80 pavilions.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18The largest of them - 10,000 square metres -
0:11:18 > 0:11:22was devoted to art and academic progress.
0:11:22 > 0:11:27And it was here that Carl Faberge hooked his most important client.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33The merchants of Moscow had developed their own taste
0:11:33 > 0:11:38for what became known as "Russian style", looking back to the crafts
0:11:38 > 0:11:43that existed before Peter the Great began to westernise his Empire.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47Faberge's replicas put his firm in the vanguard of the taste
0:11:47 > 0:11:49for this Russian style.
0:11:49 > 0:11:54But this vogue for a pure, pre-Romanov,
0:11:54 > 0:11:59Russian heritage had an unlikely champion - it was the Tsar himself.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06Physically, Alexander III was huge and he was strong. He was a great
0:12:06 > 0:12:10big bear of a man, and after his father's bloody assassination,
0:12:10 > 0:12:14he came to the throne absolutely determined to be an autocrat.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17As he famously said, "Only God and I will decide what's good for Russia."
0:12:17 > 0:12:23Alexander was fiercely patriotic, and at the exhibition, a Faberge
0:12:23 > 0:12:27replica of an ancient gold bracelet caught his eye.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31It was shown alongside the original from the Hermitage Museum,
0:12:31 > 0:12:34and for Alexander, it was proof that Russia was still producing
0:12:34 > 0:12:36supremely talented craftsmen.
0:12:38 > 0:12:42Alexander III said he couldn't spot any difference
0:12:42 > 0:12:46between Faberge's reproduction and the original bracelet.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48He was smitten.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51So much so, that the Empress purchased of a pair of cufflinks
0:12:51 > 0:12:54from the Faberge collection for her husband.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57They were illustrated with a motif of cicadas,
0:12:57 > 0:13:00also copied from the Kerch collection.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03They were supposed to represent good luck.
0:13:03 > 0:13:08But it was the seller, not the purchaser, who was the lucky one.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10BELL TOLLS
0:13:10 > 0:13:15The House of Faberge was now firmly on the Imperial radar.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18As the Tsar buttoned his cuffs in the morning, he'd have been
0:13:18 > 0:13:22reminded of the home-grown talent he had discovered.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24But it would be one particular Russian tradition that
0:13:24 > 0:13:27cemented the relationship with the Romanovs.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31CHORAL SINGING
0:13:31 > 0:13:34No sitting down in a Russian church.
0:13:37 > 0:13:42The most important religious festival in the Russian calendar,
0:13:42 > 0:13:44and the occasion for the giving of gifts,
0:13:44 > 0:13:46was not Christmas, but Easter.
0:13:50 > 0:13:55The faithful would leave the church on Easter morning declaring, "Christ is risen",
0:13:55 > 0:13:59heading home for breakfast, when presents would be exchanged.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03Homes were decorated with brightly-painted eggs.
0:14:03 > 0:14:08In 1885, the imperial family spent the night in the chapel
0:14:08 > 0:14:12at the Winter Palace, but the egg that the Empress, Maria Feodorovna,
0:14:12 > 0:14:15received after breakfast that Easter was unique.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17It had been made by Carl Faberge.
0:14:17 > 0:14:22This is where it all began - the original Faberge egg.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25This is one of the eggs that Viktor bought.
0:14:26 > 0:14:32Inside the smooth enamel shell is a golden yolk, and inside that is
0:14:32 > 0:14:36the hen that gave the egg it's name. Its eyes are rubies.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39The hen originally contained a ruby pendant,
0:14:39 > 0:14:41but sadly, that is now missing.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45This egg was another example of Faberge's skill
0:14:45 > 0:14:48at copying from an antique original, in this case,
0:14:48 > 0:14:53one with a very personal message from Alexander to his wife.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56Before her marriage, Maria Feodorovna had been
0:14:56 > 0:15:01Princess Dagmar of Denmark, and her Easter present was
0:15:01 > 0:15:03an affectionate reminder of her homeland.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09It's based on a similar egg in the Danish Royal Collection which
0:15:09 > 0:15:12Maria would have known from her childhood.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15Little could she have imagined as she fondled her chicken on that
0:15:15 > 0:15:20Easter Sunday morning that this was the start of something huge.
0:15:25 > 0:15:27The Tsar was delighted,
0:15:27 > 0:15:32and made Faberge an official supplier to the Imperial Court.
0:15:32 > 0:15:37His company drew on the very best artisans from across the city,
0:15:37 > 0:15:40all labouring under his guidance with the single aim
0:15:40 > 0:15:43of producing work of exceptional quality.
0:15:43 > 0:15:48A great part of Faberge's success was the structure of his business.
0:15:48 > 0:15:50It would be wrong to think that this success was
0:15:50 > 0:15:54the work of a lone genius toiling in his attic.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58In fact, Carl Faberge had no hands-on role in the making of
0:15:58 > 0:16:03his extraordinary objects. He was the mastermind who made it possible.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08Faberge himself was top dog of the business,
0:16:08 > 0:16:10or should I say "top doll"?
0:16:10 > 0:16:14He was the figurehead who brought in the trade, often playing
0:16:14 > 0:16:20a key role in designing the extraordinary objects that left the workshop.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24But, above all, he was a very talented administrator.
0:16:24 > 0:16:29Under him in the structure were the workmasters.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33Now these were semi-independent craftsmen, each one a specialist
0:16:33 > 0:16:36in a particular area of jewellery-making.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40And they ran the workshop on behalf of Faberge.
0:16:40 > 0:16:45The people who actually worked at the bench meticulously
0:16:45 > 0:16:49assembling these items were members of the workmasters' teams,
0:16:49 > 0:16:55and they would typically have spent their entire working lives in those workshops.
0:16:55 > 0:17:01At the bottom of the chain were the apprentices.
0:17:01 > 0:17:06These were the poor saps who swept the floors and stoked the boilers.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09The company was expanding rapidly,
0:17:09 > 0:17:13and while this was partly due to the entrepreneurial skills of Carl Faberge,
0:17:13 > 0:17:17it was also a consequence of a boom in the Russian economy.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21The Russian oligarch is not a new phenomenon.
0:17:21 > 0:17:26In the 1880s and '90s, merchants and business magnates were on the rise.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28Railways were built, oil,
0:17:28 > 0:17:31coal and steel production increased manyfold.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34Foreign banks set up in St Petersburg, willing to lend
0:17:34 > 0:17:38capital to help expand businesses like Faberge's.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40Russia was in a whirlwind of growth.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46Faberge took full advantage.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50The variety of products the firm was now producing for the Russian
0:17:50 > 0:17:52nouveau riche was extraordinary.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56He was very versatile. He used his brain.
0:17:56 > 0:18:01He was not only making high-end jewellery,
0:18:01 > 0:18:05he immediately spotted what would appeal to the public.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08When electricity became installed in Russia,
0:18:08 > 0:18:12he had bell pushers, electric bell pushers.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15Of course, at that time, it was easier to have a servant.
0:18:15 > 0:18:20Nowadays, I think you can buy a bell pusher, nobody will come.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24People used to smoke the Russian cigarettes, which were long.
0:18:24 > 0:18:29He made the cigarette cases corresponding to those cigarettes.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32When safety matches arrived,
0:18:32 > 0:18:36he also made a space in his cigarette case for the matches.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40If he were alive today, there are so many new
0:18:40 > 0:18:43and interesting things he'd make.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45Cases for cellphones,
0:18:45 > 0:18:49he would make things also for the iPads
0:18:49 > 0:18:54and for all sorts of technological things.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57I am sure that would have attracted him.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03But every Faberge customer knew he was buying more than an
0:19:03 > 0:19:05over-decorated domestic knick-knack.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08He was shopping where the Tsar went shopping.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12Alexander's commitment to the firm grew.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15Each year, he commissioned another egg for Maria Feodorovna.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19Some are lost today, but those that remain reveal how Faberge
0:19:19 > 0:19:22developed a close relationship with the Empress,
0:19:22 > 0:19:26which enabled him to personalise his creations.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30This one, for example, from 1890, contained a ten-panel
0:19:30 > 0:19:34miniature screen illustrating the Danish palaces of her youth.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37Or the Memory of Azov Egg,
0:19:37 > 0:19:41commemorating the warship in which their son, Nicholas, was serving.
0:19:41 > 0:19:46Each egg that Faberge made for the imperial family represented
0:19:46 > 0:19:48months of dedicated work.
0:19:48 > 0:19:53Today in St Petersburg, Andre Ananov makes commemorative eggs
0:19:53 > 0:19:56in homage to Carl Faberge,
0:19:56 > 0:19:59and these rooms give us a sense of what the workshops
0:19:59 > 0:20:02in Bolshaya Morskaya must have been like.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06His latest creation has already taken him over a year to make.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09You see St Petersburg, the capital of Russia,
0:20:09 > 0:20:13unique city, historical buildings.
0:20:13 > 0:20:18- That's St Isaac's, is it? - Absolutely. It is the cathedral.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22And there's different, very important buildings.
0:20:24 > 0:20:29All the stylistic notes that made Carl Faberge's eggs distinctive
0:20:29 > 0:20:31are here on Andre's creation.
0:20:31 > 0:20:36Inside are diamond-studded replicas of the Imperial Crown Jewels.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40The surface of the egg is covered in Faberge's signature decoration,
0:20:40 > 0:20:42guilloche enamelling.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47This is created using a machine called a rose engine
0:20:47 > 0:20:51that cuts a pattern of closely parallel lines on the metal surface
0:20:51 > 0:20:53onto which the enamel is applied.
0:20:55 > 0:20:56Like Andre's eggs,
0:20:56 > 0:21:01the ones Faberge produced often took more than 12 months to make,
0:21:01 > 0:21:04so his work-masters found themselves creating the next egg
0:21:04 > 0:21:07before the one for that year had even been delivered.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17Life in the Imperial household in Saint Petersburg
0:21:17 > 0:21:22was a very insular existence, a far cry from that of the peasants
0:21:22 > 0:21:25who made up over 80% of the Tsar's subjects,
0:21:25 > 0:21:30living out in the seemingly endless expanse of the Russian countryside.
0:21:30 > 0:21:35In the winter of 1891, in large parts of the Empire,
0:21:35 > 0:21:36the harvest failed.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40As many as two and a half million people died.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44The crisis was a turning point in the history of Russia.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47The failure of the Tsarist regime to respond effectively
0:21:47 > 0:21:50to the death of so many of its people would provide
0:21:50 > 0:21:55a fertile ground for those who were sowing the seeds of revolution.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59In Saint Petersburg, however, the famine had minimal effect.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03Life in the Winter Palace continued very much as it always had.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06On Easter morning, 1894,
0:22:06 > 0:22:09Maria Feodorovna received her tenth Faberge egg.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12This is the Renaissance Egg.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16It's based on the casket Faberge had seen in the Green Vaults
0:22:16 > 0:22:19during his time in Dresden as a teenager.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23He's adapted it a bit for his client.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26The date is picked out in the lid in diamonds, but it's still
0:22:26 > 0:22:30a pretty close copy of the one owned by Augustus the Strong.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35But in a display of virtuosity and panache,
0:22:35 > 0:22:37Faberge makes crucial changes.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41He has used a far more extensive range of enamel colours
0:22:41 > 0:22:43than the original displays.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47And with painstaking attention to detail, he's also given the gold
0:22:47 > 0:22:52lattice-work on the lid a subtle curve to emphasise its egg shape.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55I'm sure Augustus would have been green with envy.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01This should have been a period of great happiness
0:23:01 > 0:23:02for the Imperial family.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06Their eldest son and heir, Nicholas, had just got engaged to
0:23:06 > 0:23:11Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt, a grand-daughter of Queen Victoria.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14But that Easter brought bad news too.
0:23:14 > 0:23:19Alexander III was suffering from a kidney complaint
0:23:19 > 0:23:23and he would die the following autumn at the age of 49.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27His son, Nicholas II, only 26,
0:23:27 > 0:23:31was wholly unprepared for the role he now had to take on.
0:23:36 > 0:23:42The Orthodox church geared up for month of ceremonial pageantry.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46In quick succession, the new Tsar buried his father,
0:23:46 > 0:23:49got married in the Grand Church of the Winter Palace,
0:23:49 > 0:23:51and assumed the reigns of power.
0:23:54 > 0:23:56Nicholas II could be forgiven for feeling uneasy
0:23:56 > 0:23:59by the sudden turn of events.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02His wife was widely considered to be German,
0:24:02 > 0:24:05a nationality viewed with great distrust by Russians,
0:24:05 > 0:24:08and there were dark mutterings about the fact that she made her bow
0:24:08 > 0:24:13in the city in mourning, walking behind a coffin.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15Was she an omen of bad luck?
0:24:18 > 0:24:20The Coronation of the Tsar traditionally took place
0:24:20 > 0:24:26in the old capital Moscow, and in 1896, after 18 months
0:24:26 > 0:24:30of mourning for his father, Nicholas and Alexandra travelled on the
0:24:30 > 0:24:34Imperial train from the aristocratic stronghold of Saint Petersburg
0:24:34 > 0:24:39for a far more uncertain reception from their Muscovite subjects.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44The five-hour service over there in the Uspensky Cathedral,
0:24:44 > 0:24:48inside the Kremlin, was marred by further incidents
0:24:48 > 0:24:51which led to murmurings amongst superstitious onlookers.
0:24:51 > 0:24:56First, the Foreign Minister suffered a stroke and dropped down dead
0:24:56 > 0:24:58just as their majesties arrived.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02Then, as Nicholas himself went to the sanctuary to receive communion,
0:25:02 > 0:25:05the clasp on the Order of St Andrew,
0:25:05 > 0:25:09with which he had just been invested broke, and it fell to the floor.
0:25:09 > 0:25:14But the events of the next few days were to do devastating harm
0:25:14 > 0:25:15to his reputation.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21A great celebration was to be held here at Khodynka Field,
0:25:21 > 0:25:25and it was rumoured that a modest goodie bag would be distributed.
0:25:27 > 0:25:32The largesse of the new Tsar extended to a bread roll,
0:25:32 > 0:25:35a piece of sausage, a slice of gingerbread,
0:25:35 > 0:25:38and a commemorative cup, but as the crowd grew,
0:25:38 > 0:25:42a rumour spread that there wouldn't be enough for everybody.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46There was pushing and shoving in the queues and a panic ensued
0:25:46 > 0:25:50in which almost 1,400 people were trampled to death.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00Nicholas, showing the indecisiveness that blighted his reign,
0:26:00 > 0:26:03couldn't decide whether to attend a ball at the French Embassy
0:26:03 > 0:26:06that evening, but was finally persuaded to go.
0:26:06 > 0:26:11The people of Moscow saw their Tsar partying in all his finery whilst so
0:26:11 > 0:26:16many of his subjects were lying in mortuaries and hospital beds nearby.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19What should have been a celebration of the start of his reign
0:26:19 > 0:26:22had inadvertently provided ammunition
0:26:22 > 0:26:24for those who sought to bring it to an end.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31That Faberge chose to commemorate the Coronation with his Easter egg
0:26:31 > 0:26:35the following year was one of his less-inspired ideas.
0:26:39 > 0:26:44As we've already seen, the Coronation Egg is hard to beat.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48The stunning shade of translucent lime yellow enamel is applied
0:26:48 > 0:26:52over a pattern of guilloche sunbursts,
0:26:52 > 0:26:55with a green gold trellis of laurel leaves.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01But the triumph of this egg was the surprise it contained.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04That miniature replica of the golden state coach
0:27:04 > 0:27:07in which Alexandra rode to the ceremony.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10The coach inside the egg is exquisite.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12Unfortunately what it would have reminded her of is the fact
0:27:12 > 0:27:15that her mother-in-law rode in a rather more magnificent coach
0:27:15 > 0:27:18ahead of her, according to Russian precedence,
0:27:18 > 0:27:22receiving cheers from the Russian populous, while Alexandra herself
0:27:22 > 0:27:26was greeted only with silence as a German interloper.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29Amongst the guests attending the Coronation
0:27:29 > 0:27:32were our own Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII,
0:27:32 > 0:27:37and his son, the Duke of York, the future George V.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41It seemed the British Royal Family would be just as seduced by Faberge
0:27:41 > 0:27:43as their Russian cousins.
0:27:43 > 0:27:44They bought lots of pieces
0:27:44 > 0:27:47and George V, as Duke of York, wrote in his diary,
0:27:47 > 0:27:50"Visited Faberge's shop, you know, bought half the contents."
0:27:50 > 0:27:53Queen Victoria was really the first reigning British monarch
0:27:53 > 0:27:55to acquire pieces of Faberge.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna
0:27:59 > 0:28:02had spent some time with Queen Victoria up at Balmoral
0:28:02 > 0:28:07in the autumn of 1896 and following the visit, that Christmas,
0:28:07 > 0:28:10they sent this present to Queen Victoria.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14The thing about Faberge is it is absolutely sublime quality.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16You never see a dud piece of Faberge.
0:28:16 > 0:28:21Queen Victoria decided to use it, at the time of her Diamond Jubilee
0:28:21 > 0:28:25in 1897, and it was signed by all the principal guests.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29It's the guilloche enamelling that Faberge is particularly known for.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33The surface of the metal is engraved.
0:28:33 > 0:28:37That is overlaid with six or seven layers of enamel.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41Faberge, in fact, produced enamel in 142 different colours.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45That's more colours than any other craftsman ever managed to produce
0:28:45 > 0:28:46either before or since.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50And each layer is polished by hand for hours to get this absolutely
0:28:50 > 0:28:54translucent finish but the result and very, very rich.
0:28:54 > 0:28:58Those skills, and that level of craftsmanship, does not exist today.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03Since the assassination of Alexander III,
0:29:03 > 0:29:07the Imperial family had been far less visible to the ordinary people
0:29:07 > 0:29:10they governed, spending more and more time at the Alexander Palace
0:29:10 > 0:29:16in the rural village of Tsarskoye Selo, 20 miles south of the capital.
0:29:16 > 0:29:19It meant a trek out of town for Carl, but one he knew
0:29:19 > 0:29:24was worth making if his Imperial commissions were to continue.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27Faberge had developed a very good relationship with
0:29:27 > 0:29:28the dowager Empress Maria,
0:29:28 > 0:29:32over the many years in which he was her favourite jeweller,
0:29:32 > 0:29:33and the eggs he made for her
0:29:33 > 0:29:37showed great insight into the kind of things that would appeal to her.
0:29:37 > 0:29:41But the new Empress was an altogether trickier customer.
0:29:41 > 0:29:45Hidden away as she was here in Tsarskoye Selo for long periods,
0:29:45 > 0:29:48it was difficult for him to get to know her,
0:29:48 > 0:29:54but after his faux-pas of 1897 he was determined to put things right
0:29:54 > 0:29:58and restore his reputation in the eyes of his most important client.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04And this was his response - the Lilly of the Valley Egg,
0:30:04 > 0:30:07also now owned by Viktor Vekselberg.
0:30:07 > 0:30:09The Russians would refer to this as Stil Moderne,
0:30:09 > 0:30:15more familiar to us as Art Nouveau, and Alexandra loved it.
0:30:15 > 0:30:17There are classic Faberge touches.
0:30:17 > 0:30:19The egg itself is worked in guilloche,
0:30:19 > 0:30:22covered in an unusual pink enamel,
0:30:22 > 0:30:26but the sensuously curling fronds of the lilies, with their diamond
0:30:26 > 0:30:31and pearl buds appealed directly to Alexandra's love of cut flowers.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35But Faberge had discovered another theme to entrance the Empress,
0:30:35 > 0:30:37her growing family.
0:30:37 > 0:30:41A catch on the side of the egg releases three pop-up pictures
0:30:41 > 0:30:44of her husband and two daughters.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48Faberge's flirtation with the Stil Moderne may have been
0:30:48 > 0:30:52an immense success with Alexandra Feodorovna, but he was about to have
0:30:52 > 0:30:56his creations tested in a much more demanding arena.
0:31:01 > 0:31:06In 1900, the latest Exposition Universelle took place
0:31:06 > 0:31:08in the very birthplace of Art Nouveau.
0:31:10 > 0:31:14Carl Faberge was now, by some margin, the most successful
0:31:14 > 0:31:18jeweller in Russia, but how would he be seen on the world stage?
0:31:18 > 0:31:21Paris could be a fairly intimidating place
0:31:21 > 0:31:23to enter an international competition,
0:31:23 > 0:31:26especially in a field the French considered their own,
0:31:26 > 0:31:28like bijouterie.
0:31:28 > 0:31:32But, as it happened, Carl had nothing to fear from Paris.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36For reasons entirely unconnected to his prowess or otherwise with a
0:31:36 > 0:31:43gemstone, being Russian in this city in 1900 was a very cool thing to be.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47France was feeling a bit unloved by her neighbours.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51She was surrounded by the Triple Alliance of Germany, Italy
0:31:51 > 0:31:55and Austria-Hungary, and the entente cordiale with Britain
0:31:55 > 0:31:57was still some way in the future.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00Into this breach had stepped the Russians,
0:32:00 > 0:32:05and in 1894, the Franco-Russian Alliance was signed.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08This bridge, which is considered the most beautiful in Paris,
0:32:08 > 0:32:12was created in honour of the Tsar who signed that alliance,
0:32:12 > 0:32:14Alexander III.
0:32:14 > 0:32:21At the Exposition Universelle of 1900, the French went Russian mad.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27For their part, the Russians did put on a great show.
0:32:27 > 0:32:31They built a mini Moscow here, complete with a pseudo-Kremlin,
0:32:31 > 0:32:34a Russian village, and an Orthodox Church.
0:32:36 > 0:32:38Innovations abounded.
0:32:38 > 0:32:40Moving around the enormous exhibition site
0:32:40 > 0:32:44was facilitated by the world's first mechanical pavements,
0:32:44 > 0:32:49a system of wooden people movers that ran along elevated tracks.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53Just about every country in the world was represented.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59The decorative arts were exhibited in front of the Hotel des Invalides,
0:32:59 > 0:33:03in an avenue of temporary classical arcades.
0:33:03 > 0:33:07Faberge's stand drew a crowd every day.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10His Imperial Majesty had graciously consented
0:33:10 > 0:33:15to lend three of his Easter eggs to the Faberge stand,
0:33:15 > 0:33:18including the Lilly of the Valley egg.
0:33:18 > 0:33:22Like everything else Russian, Faberge was praised to the skies.
0:33:22 > 0:33:26He was invited to sit on the panel of judges that gave out the prizes
0:33:26 > 0:33:28and, at the end of the Expo,
0:33:28 > 0:33:33he was awarded the nation's highest decoration, the Legion d'Honour.
0:33:36 > 0:33:40Every item the firm had brought to Paris was sold.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43And there was something else the Russians were very proud of in 1900,
0:33:43 > 0:33:46but it was too big to bring to France.
0:33:48 > 0:33:52That year saw the opening of the Trans-Siberian Railway,
0:33:52 > 0:33:56which was, and remains, the longest railway line in the world.
0:33:58 > 0:34:02In the Russian Pavilion an elaborate Trans-Siberian Experience
0:34:02 > 0:34:06was staged, recreating the journey from Moscow to Beijing.
0:34:06 > 0:34:10The punters would sit in stationary railway carriages and watch through
0:34:10 > 0:34:14the windows as this vast painted panorama rushed past outside.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17And ever since they showed it in Paris in 1900,
0:34:17 > 0:34:21it's been locked away here, in the Hermitage Museum.
0:34:21 > 0:34:24This wonderful great roll could only have appeared when it did,
0:34:24 > 0:34:28at that precise moment in time, because a few years later,
0:34:28 > 0:34:32cinema would have made an enterprise like this redundant.
0:34:35 > 0:34:37One thing this would have shown, though,
0:34:37 > 0:34:40is just how vast the Russian Empire was.
0:34:40 > 0:34:43At the same time as this great panorama was being painted,
0:34:43 > 0:34:46Carl would have been working on the 1900 Easter gift.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50He was just as impressed by this monumental feat of Russian
0:34:50 > 0:34:53engineering, and I can imagine what he would have thought.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56"You know what? This would make a great egg."
0:35:00 > 0:35:05The egg presented by the Tsar to his wife on Easter morning 1900
0:35:05 > 0:35:09was as beautiful as ever, in green and red enamel,
0:35:09 > 0:35:13embellished with rubies, pearls and rose-cut diamonds,
0:35:13 > 0:35:18and inside was a tiny golden train set - the Trans-Siberian, in an egg.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23Clever Carl had scored another hit.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29All right, that's good for me, you can roll it up again now.
0:35:29 > 0:35:31Thank you.
0:35:34 > 0:35:381900 was quite a year for Carl and his business.
0:35:38 > 0:35:41Back in Saint Petersburg there were important new developments
0:35:41 > 0:35:43in Bolshaya Morskaya Street.
0:35:44 > 0:35:49At some point in the early 20th century, Faberge became
0:35:49 > 0:35:53almost certainly the biggest jewellery business in the world.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57This ever-expanding enterprise continued to operate from
0:35:57 > 0:35:59the same street here in Saint Petersburg
0:35:59 > 0:36:03where old Gustav Faberge had first set up his shop.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09But, my, how things had changed.
0:36:09 > 0:36:10The success of the House of Faberge
0:36:10 > 0:36:15meant Carl was able to move into purpose-built headquarters.
0:36:15 > 0:36:17Retail at ground level,
0:36:17 > 0:36:21design, manufacture and mail order on the higher floors,
0:36:21 > 0:36:25and at the very top a spacious apartment for Carl himself,
0:36:25 > 0:36:28with the last word in luxurious appointments.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33These days the shop is selling jewellery once more,
0:36:33 > 0:36:37and the original layout has been recreated.
0:36:37 > 0:36:38Visitors in its heyday
0:36:38 > 0:36:42described the warm and brilliant interior of the shop.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48One great innovation that flourished in these new premises
0:36:48 > 0:36:51was Faberge's pioneering use of mail order.
0:36:53 > 0:36:58He was always plotting interesting possibilities.
0:36:58 > 0:37:02The railroad system expanded then and things could be sent.
0:37:04 > 0:37:09I think the post was more efficient than it is now.
0:37:09 > 0:37:11They already at that time had zip codes.
0:37:13 > 0:37:16There were now stores in Moscow, Kiev and Odessa,
0:37:16 > 0:37:21and in 1903, the first, and only international branch was
0:37:21 > 0:37:26opened in London, largely due to the spending habits of just one man.
0:37:26 > 0:37:30I think Edward VII really caught the bug for Faberge from his wife,
0:37:30 > 0:37:33but it was very much through their patronage of Faberge that
0:37:33 > 0:37:38Carl Faberge decided to open a branch of the firm in London.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41He placed the only direct commission with the firm, which was
0:37:41 > 0:37:45to have the wonderful animals modelled by Faberge's modellers.
0:37:45 > 0:37:48There was great excitement around this commission
0:37:48 > 0:37:50because Faberge sent his best sculptors all the way from
0:37:50 > 0:37:56St Petersburg to model the animals which were done in wax initially.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59And his dog Caesar we see here immortalised in
0:37:59 > 0:38:03this beautiful carving in chalcedony with ruby eyes
0:38:03 > 0:38:07and also with a gold collar enamelled with the words,
0:38:07 > 0:38:08"I belong to the King,"
0:38:08 > 0:38:12which is exactly what the dog had on his collar in real life.
0:38:12 > 0:38:16Today the Royal Collection also owns the Basket of Flowers Egg,
0:38:16 > 0:38:21the 1901 gift from Nicholas to Alexandra.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24These are some of the flowers that would have been growing in Russia
0:38:24 > 0:38:25in the spring and summer.
0:38:25 > 0:38:29The spring and summer in Russia was so short.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32The Tsarina was particularly fond of Faberge's flowers.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35I think it's just a wonderful reminder of spring, of birth,
0:38:35 > 0:38:37renewal, growth,
0:38:37 > 0:38:41and entirely appropriate for an Easter present as this is.
0:38:45 > 0:38:50The world of Carl Faberge was now an extraordinarily rarefied one.
0:38:50 > 0:38:54The shop in Bolshaya Morskaya Street dispatched exotic gifts
0:38:54 > 0:38:56to every crowned head on the planet -
0:38:56 > 0:39:00a jewelled sabre for the Negus of Abyssinia,
0:39:00 > 0:39:03a magnifying glass for the King of Siam,
0:39:03 > 0:39:07even the Dalai Lama had a Faberge ring, a gift from the Tsar.
0:39:07 > 0:39:09The Imperial warrant as jeweller to the Romanovs
0:39:09 > 0:39:14was still the gold standard that underpinned his reputation.
0:39:14 > 0:39:20But in 1904 and 1905, no eggs were presented at Easter.
0:39:20 > 0:39:21Faberge might have been thriving,
0:39:21 > 0:39:25but his most celebrated client had other things on his mind.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34Russia became involved in a disastrous war with Japan,
0:39:34 > 0:39:3710,000 kilometres away in the South Pacific,
0:39:37 > 0:39:40in which the Russian Navy was all but annihilated.
0:39:43 > 0:39:47Back home, growing discontent at the course of the war,
0:39:47 > 0:39:51and anger at the lack of any sign of democratic reform
0:39:51 > 0:39:54led to frequent strikes and civil unrest.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58In January 1905, a general strike was called in Saint Petersburg,
0:39:58 > 0:40:01and a large procession of factory workers
0:40:01 > 0:40:03headed for the Winter Palace.
0:40:03 > 0:40:07The marchers sang patriotic songs, including God Save The Tsar,
0:40:07 > 0:40:11but their way was blocked here at the Narva Gate by soldiers
0:40:11 > 0:40:14with orders not to let them pass.
0:40:16 > 0:40:18Warning shots failed to disperse the crowd,
0:40:18 > 0:40:23so the soldiers began firing directly on the marchers themselves,
0:40:23 > 0:40:25killing several hundreds of them.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28The Tsar wasn't even in residence at the Winter Palace,
0:40:28 > 0:40:32having left for Tsarskoye Selo at the first sign of unrest.
0:40:35 > 0:40:39The incident inflamed an already restive nation.
0:40:39 > 0:40:41Insurrection broke out across the Empire.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44The military defeat in the Pacific
0:40:44 > 0:40:48led to mutinies in the armed forces - revolution was preached,
0:40:48 > 0:40:53and for next few months, Russia was poised on the brink of civil war.
0:40:53 > 0:40:56Ultimately, Nicholas capitulated.
0:40:56 > 0:41:01It came to an end soon after Nicholas signed the October manifesto
0:41:01 > 0:41:04in which he agreed to the existence of a Russian parliament,
0:41:04 > 0:41:07a parliament with limited powers, but it could have been the first step
0:41:07 > 0:41:10on the road to a constitutional monarchy in Russia.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13It's doubtful whether or not Nicholas himself ever saw it that way.
0:41:13 > 0:41:17Certainly at the same time as he was signing the manifesto,
0:41:17 > 0:41:20his government was continuing with some brutal repression and really,
0:41:20 > 0:41:24in the end, perhaps what it was doing was creating a focus for discontent
0:41:24 > 0:41:26and storing up problems for the future.
0:41:26 > 0:41:28It was a bitter moment, though.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31He wrote in his diary that he was,
0:41:31 > 0:41:34"Sick with shame at this betrayal of the dynasty."
0:41:38 > 0:41:42The Romanovs' increasingly isolated life at the Alexander Palace
0:41:42 > 0:41:45centred more and more on the family.
0:41:45 > 0:41:49This was reflected in the Easter eggs that Carl Faberge made
0:41:49 > 0:41:52when his regular order was resumed.
0:41:54 > 0:41:59Two of these family-themed eggs are now in the British Royal Collection.
0:41:59 > 0:42:04The Colonnade Egg is a mantelpiece clock, and was the Easter gift
0:42:04 > 0:42:08from Nicholas to Alexandra in 1910.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11Can I play with it or not?
0:42:11 > 0:42:14Prince Michael of Kent is the great-great-grandson
0:42:14 > 0:42:16of Tsar Alexander II...
0:42:16 > 0:42:17It's very heavy...
0:42:17 > 0:42:20..and a lifelong fan of Faberge.
0:42:20 > 0:42:26The Cupid here on top represents the Tsarevich, Alexis.
0:42:26 > 0:42:30Inside the columns are two doves,
0:42:30 > 0:42:33which represent the Tsar and Tsarina,
0:42:33 > 0:42:36who were very close all their lives.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40And these four silver gilt cherubs
0:42:40 > 0:42:43represent the Tsar's four daughters -
0:42:43 > 0:42:46Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia
0:42:46 > 0:42:50and they were known as OTMA for short, which was their initials.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53And it's a wonderful piece of work.
0:42:57 > 0:42:59Exquisite workmanship
0:42:59 > 0:43:03and extraordinary gift for striking the right note.
0:43:05 > 0:43:06This is the Mosaic Egg,
0:43:06 > 0:43:10which is probably the most technically demanding
0:43:10 > 0:43:12of all the eggs Faberge made.
0:43:12 > 0:43:17The whole frame or shell of it, if you like, is made of platinum.
0:43:17 > 0:43:22The framework of this, obviously being the shape it is,
0:43:22 > 0:43:25is a very complex thing.
0:43:25 > 0:43:29Each and every tiny, tiny stone had to be specially shaped.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32It must have been the most painstaking work.
0:43:32 > 0:43:39Inside was what they call the surprise. Faberge love surprises.
0:43:39 > 0:43:44Made of ivory and painted with the Tsar's five children.
0:43:47 > 0:43:50This pale blue guilloche Faberge frame,
0:43:50 > 0:43:53shows the youngest child, Alexis,
0:43:53 > 0:43:55but their joy at the birth of a male heir,
0:43:55 > 0:44:00was soon overshadowed by the discovery that he had haemophilia.
0:44:00 > 0:44:03The interesting thing of course is that the Tsarevich,
0:44:03 > 0:44:05being their only son,
0:44:05 > 0:44:10was very important to them because the daughters were unable to inherit.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13The Tsardom always went through the male line.
0:44:18 > 0:44:19In 1913,
0:44:19 > 0:44:24the Romanov dynasty celebrated 300 years as Tsars of Russia.
0:44:24 > 0:44:28Nicholas was still in constant conflict with the Duma,
0:44:28 > 0:44:32the parliament he'd been forced to accept in 1905,
0:44:32 > 0:44:36and his wife's unpopularity was compounded by dark mutterings
0:44:36 > 0:44:41about her close relationship with the monk, Grigori Rasputin.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44An extensive tour of the Empire was planned,
0:44:44 > 0:44:48which culminated in a ceremonial entrance into Moscow,
0:44:48 > 0:44:52but by the time they arrived here, their fears had been allayed.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58This tour reinforced their belief
0:44:58 > 0:45:00that talk of their unpopularity was just a myth.
0:45:00 > 0:45:04After all, their reception was rapturous,
0:45:04 > 0:45:06cheering crowds lined their route
0:45:06 > 0:45:08and people actually fell to the ground
0:45:08 > 0:45:13and kissed the shadow of the Tsar as he passed by.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16The reassurance Nicholas felt from his reception on this tour
0:45:16 > 0:45:18was further reinforced
0:45:18 > 0:45:21by Carl Faberge's Easter confection that year.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24Now on display in the Kremlin Armoury Museum,
0:45:24 > 0:45:29the Tercentenary Egg was undoubtedly a masterpiece.
0:45:29 > 0:45:31There's an aggressive symbolism about it,
0:45:31 > 0:45:35beginning at the base with the golden two-headed Russian eagle.
0:45:35 > 0:45:40It's effectively supporting 18 miniature portraits
0:45:40 > 0:45:42of the Romanov Tsars.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45You can see the lineage running from Michael I,
0:45:45 > 0:45:48encompassing Catherine the Great,
0:45:48 > 0:45:53Alexander III and culminating in Nicholas II himself.
0:45:53 > 0:45:59Each one is framed with diamonds, 1,115 in total,
0:45:59 > 0:46:02and the various crowns of his dominions
0:46:02 > 0:46:05are chased in gold between the portraits.
0:46:05 > 0:46:07All the materials from which it is made,
0:46:07 > 0:46:11the differently coloured golds, the steel, the diamonds,
0:46:11 > 0:46:16topaz and rock crystal, were all sourced from within his vast Empire.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18And the bill?
0:46:18 > 0:46:2321,300 roubles, at a time when the average wage of a working Russian
0:46:23 > 0:46:26was around 500 roubles a year.
0:46:29 > 0:46:32However buoyed up Nicholas was about his popularity
0:46:32 > 0:46:36after the Tercentenary tour, it was short-lived.
0:46:36 > 0:46:40In 1914, Russia couldn't avoid becoming entangled
0:46:40 > 0:46:42in the outbreak of the First World War,
0:46:42 > 0:46:46and very quickly began to suffer catastrophic losses.
0:46:46 > 0:46:52The following year, with 1,400,000 Russians already dead,
0:46:52 > 0:46:54Nicholas left St Petersburg for the front
0:46:54 > 0:46:57to take personal charge of his army.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00But this time, war or no war,
0:47:00 > 0:47:03Faberge continued to receive orders for eggs each Easter.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08The Steel Military Egg was Alexandra's Easter present
0:47:08 > 0:47:12in 1916. It's a wartime austerity model,
0:47:12 > 0:47:16that could have been inspired by the Italian futurists.
0:47:16 > 0:47:18It looks like a land mine,
0:47:18 > 0:47:21primed to explode when the Imperial Crown is touched.
0:47:25 > 0:47:26Now, on the face of it
0:47:26 > 0:47:28you might expect her to be rather disappointed with this,
0:47:28 > 0:47:31a reminder that her husband was at the front.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34On the contrary yet again, the subtle perception
0:47:34 > 0:47:37for which the jeweller was known came into its own.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40She was extremely proud of her husband
0:47:40 > 0:47:42for leading the nation at war
0:47:42 > 0:47:45and she was very pleased with her egg.
0:47:45 > 0:47:49The surprise inside showed Nicholas and his son, Alexis,
0:47:49 > 0:47:54both in uniform, poring over military maps.
0:47:54 > 0:47:58Not surprisingly, Nicholas was no better at running an army
0:47:58 > 0:48:00than he had been at running his country.
0:48:00 > 0:48:04His role as commander-in-chief that this egg was made to commemorate,
0:48:04 > 0:48:07proved to be a disaster for Russia.
0:48:07 > 0:48:10All the problems that had been unsatisfactorily dealt with
0:48:10 > 0:48:13in 1905 surfaced again, and this time
0:48:13 > 0:48:18Nicholas had very little to offer by way of shoring up his reputation.
0:48:20 > 0:48:24The Steel Military Egg has another significant claim to fame, though.
0:48:24 > 0:48:27This would prove to be the last egg
0:48:27 > 0:48:30Faberge ever created for the Romanovs.
0:48:34 > 0:48:38Work did begin on the eggs for Easter 1917,
0:48:38 > 0:48:40but they were never completed.
0:48:40 > 0:48:41On 2nd March,
0:48:41 > 0:48:46Nicholas abdicated as Autocrat and Tsar of all the Russians.
0:48:46 > 0:48:50For Carl Faberge, 30 years of sustained creativity,
0:48:50 > 0:48:54inspiring 50 variations on one simple theme
0:48:54 > 0:48:56in the most precious of materials,
0:48:56 > 0:49:00employing craftsmanship at the very limits of perfection,
0:49:00 > 0:49:03came to an abrupt and tragic end.
0:49:06 > 0:49:09Whilst chaos took hold in his former Empire,
0:49:09 > 0:49:12Nicholas and his family were held under guard
0:49:12 > 0:49:16at the Alexander Palace. An appeal to his cousin, King George V,
0:49:16 > 0:49:20for asylum in Britain, was declined.
0:49:20 > 0:49:24The Romanov family left Tsarskoye Selo for the last time
0:49:24 > 0:49:26through these doors.
0:49:26 > 0:49:28They were taken into exile in Siberia.
0:49:30 > 0:49:33'A year later, they were murdered.'
0:49:37 > 0:49:39ARCHIVE: 'The masters take charge of their destiny
0:49:39 > 0:49:44'with rifles, bayonets, machine guns. The Bolsheviks seize power.'
0:49:47 > 0:49:51The Bolshevik Revolution and the ensuing civil war
0:49:51 > 0:49:54brought mixed fortunes for Carl himself.
0:49:54 > 0:49:58There was a frenzied rush amongst the nobility to convert their cash
0:49:58 > 0:50:01into more easily tradable jewellery.
0:50:01 > 0:50:02Carl admitted that,
0:50:02 > 0:50:07despite the lack of fuel and bread, he was doing flourishing business.
0:50:07 > 0:50:10Leon Trotsky had him listed as a war profiteer
0:50:10 > 0:50:13and eventually the commissars arrived
0:50:13 > 0:50:15to take his business from him.
0:50:15 > 0:50:20He asked for ten minutes to collect his hat, say goodbye to his staff
0:50:20 > 0:50:23and quit Bolshaya Morskaya Street for good.
0:50:34 > 0:50:36Carl's wife and their eldest son, Eugene,
0:50:36 > 0:50:39escaped to the West in the most dramatic fashion.
0:50:39 > 0:50:42Travelling by sledge through the forests
0:50:42 > 0:50:45and across the frozen Gulf of Finland,
0:50:45 > 0:50:47they made their way to Switzerland.
0:50:49 > 0:50:51Carl himself escaped separately,
0:50:51 > 0:50:54evading capture on a similarly hazardous journey.
0:50:56 > 0:50:59The story is that Carl Faberge escaped St Petersburg
0:50:59 > 0:51:02on possibly the last train to leave for the West,
0:51:02 > 0:51:04disguised as a member of the British Legation.
0:51:04 > 0:51:07If it's true, then it's interesting to think
0:51:07 > 0:51:11that the British were prepared to help Faberge the jeweller
0:51:11 > 0:51:12in a way which George V
0:51:12 > 0:51:16was not prepared to help his cousin, Nicholas Romanov.
0:51:19 > 0:51:22This most meticulous of craftsmen
0:51:22 > 0:51:27died on 24th September 1920 in Lausanne, Switzerland.
0:51:27 > 0:51:29He was 74.
0:51:29 > 0:51:33Rather sentimentally, perhaps, his family gave the cause of death
0:51:33 > 0:51:35as a broken heart.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39One member of the Faberge family
0:51:39 > 0:51:41was missing from the bedside when Carl died.
0:51:41 > 0:51:46His second son, Agathon, had failed to escape.
0:51:47 > 0:51:50My grandfather, he didn't want to leave,
0:51:50 > 0:51:52and like most of the people,
0:51:52 > 0:51:55he could not believe that this was the end.
0:51:55 > 0:51:58He was a gemmologist, an expert in stones.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01When the revolution started,
0:52:01 > 0:52:05he was put into jail and kept there
0:52:05 > 0:52:10to appraise all the jewellery which they had requisitioned
0:52:10 > 0:52:14from the Tsar and the rich families.
0:52:14 > 0:52:17This is Agathon Faberge's country estate,
0:52:17 > 0:52:21or at least, what's left of it.
0:52:21 > 0:52:26When you were in the kind of turmoil like that,
0:52:26 > 0:52:29there's not much you can do against it.
0:52:29 > 0:52:33He was lucky not to have been executed, I think.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39Agathon would never see his father again.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43He wasn't released from prison until 1925.
0:52:43 > 0:52:47His work assessing the Crown Jewels was pointless.
0:52:47 > 0:52:49Isolated from the outside world,
0:52:49 > 0:52:53he didn't allow for the colossal devaluation of the rouble,
0:52:53 > 0:52:54which by the time he was released,
0:52:54 > 0:52:59had fallen to one fifty-millionth of its pre-war value.
0:52:59 > 0:53:03But however wide of the mark Agathon's valuations were,
0:53:03 > 0:53:08in the late 1920s, a hard-up Stalin was determined to capitalise
0:53:08 > 0:53:10on the Romanov treasures.
0:53:12 > 0:53:15Despite the mass of items that Faberge had created
0:53:15 > 0:53:18in his working life, I think he would have regarded
0:53:18 > 0:53:22his greatest achievement as those 50 Imperial Easter Eggs.
0:53:22 > 0:53:26But now his clients were dead and the eggs forgotten,
0:53:26 > 0:53:30locked away in the Kremlin Armoury with the rest of the Crown Jewels.
0:53:30 > 0:53:33In 1927, almost in secrecy,
0:53:33 > 0:53:39Stalin began to sell and the eggs began to appear in the West.
0:53:39 > 0:53:42But the market for Russian jewellery became flooded
0:53:42 > 0:53:44in the wake of the revolution -
0:53:44 > 0:53:48a situation to which even the once-coveted name of Faberge
0:53:48 > 0:53:49was not immune.
0:53:50 > 0:53:56The Depression of the 1930s sent values crashing to an all-time low.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59The original Faberge Hen Egg,
0:53:59 > 0:54:04the Easter gift which had delighted Maria Feodorovna in 1885,
0:54:04 > 0:54:06was sold at Christie's in London.
0:54:06 > 0:54:09It fetched just £85.
0:54:12 > 0:54:1673 years later, in the same auction room,
0:54:16 > 0:54:22Faberge's Rothschild Egg of 1902 sold for £8.9 million.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25This extraordinary turnaround in the value of the eggs
0:54:25 > 0:54:26was, in large part,
0:54:26 > 0:54:30due to a New York magazine publisher, Malcolm Forbes.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34Malcolm Forbes is a very attractive character, really.
0:54:34 > 0:54:35He had a famous saying,
0:54:35 > 0:54:37"He who dies with the most toys, wins,"
0:54:37 > 0:54:40and on that basis Malcolm Forbes definitely won.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43He'd been fascinated by Faberge from a young age,
0:54:43 > 0:54:44the idea that here it was,
0:54:44 > 0:54:47associated with the decadence of the Romanov Empire,
0:54:47 > 0:54:50and he was always partial for a bit of decadence himself.
0:54:50 > 0:54:54In a 40-year spending spree,
0:54:54 > 0:54:56Malcolm refused to be outbid,
0:54:56 > 0:54:59ending up with nine Imperial Eggs,
0:54:59 > 0:55:01more than any private individual had owned
0:55:01 > 0:55:03since the Romanovs themselves.
0:55:03 > 0:55:07Malcolm Forbes almost single-handedly established the market for the eggs
0:55:07 > 0:55:09in his lifetime and really set them up
0:55:09 > 0:55:13for the cultural and iconic value that they have today.
0:55:13 > 0:55:17When his sons decided to sell his collection after Forbes' death,
0:55:17 > 0:55:20the world salivated at the prospect
0:55:20 > 0:55:24that so many of these now legendary icons of fabulous wealth
0:55:24 > 0:55:27were to be sold in one glittering event.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30But as we know, history was cheated of this final reckoning.
0:55:30 > 0:55:34Viktor Vekselburg intervened.
0:55:34 > 0:55:37Viktor established the Link of Times Foundation
0:55:37 > 0:55:42to look after his eggs, along with these more modest Faberge items.
0:55:42 > 0:55:45One day he plans to open a museum
0:55:45 > 0:55:48to put all his Russian art on display to the public.
0:55:48 > 0:55:53This is the result of maybe, like, 15 years of collecting.
0:55:53 > 0:55:58I was curious to know why Viktor felt it was important
0:55:58 > 0:56:01to spend his money on cultural heritage.
0:56:01 > 0:56:04Other people in your position might have bought something else,
0:56:04 > 0:56:06like, I don't know, a football club in London?
0:56:06 > 0:56:12Faberge eggs, this is part of Russian history and Russian culture.
0:56:12 > 0:56:17I never holded even one egg in my house, never.
0:56:17 > 0:56:21In our apartment, in our house, it would look terrible
0:56:21 > 0:56:26if I put some Imperial Eggs in my buffet or something.
0:56:26 > 0:56:32Faberge, for me, is maybe one of the toppest level of jewellery art.
0:56:32 > 0:56:38This is real, when you see this is so beautiful technology,
0:56:38 > 0:56:41so beautiful works, so many details,
0:56:41 > 0:56:43I even don't believe that anybody in that time
0:56:43 > 0:56:49can to repeat it, even they will be using so high-tech technology,
0:56:49 > 0:56:52- new material or something... - Lasers, yeah...
0:56:52 > 0:56:57..impossible. This is so, just like, unique product
0:56:57 > 0:57:01and I think this is real, real art.
0:57:04 > 0:57:07The mystique of the eggs continues to resonate.
0:57:07 > 0:57:10These greatest creations of a master jeweller
0:57:10 > 0:57:15are perhaps uniquely representative of a kind of unimaginable wealth,
0:57:15 > 0:57:19charged in a powerful collision of uselessness and beauty,
0:57:19 > 0:57:24a supernova of money, art and craftsmanship.
0:57:25 > 0:57:31On 17th July 1998, exactly 80 years after they were murdered,
0:57:31 > 0:57:35the newly-identified remains of the last Tsar and his family
0:57:35 > 0:57:41were finally buried, amongst the ancestral tombs of the Romanovs.
0:57:47 > 0:57:51But Carl Faberge won't be coming back to St Petersburg.
0:57:55 > 0:57:58In a way, he belongs to all of us now,
0:57:58 > 0:58:00and his inventive genius
0:58:00 > 0:58:05has given us unbeatable benchmark of human achievement.
0:58:05 > 0:58:09The world of Carl Faberge is our world, too.
0:58:09 > 0:58:13As for Carl himself, he has his place in the sun all right -
0:58:13 > 0:58:16he's buried in Cannes in the French Riviera.
0:58:49 > 0:58:51Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd