The Faberge Eggs were lavish jeweled Easter gifts commissioned by Russian Czar Alexander III and his son Nicholas II for their wives and mothers each Easter. Jeweler Peter Carl Faberge created the eggs, which became increasingly elaborate over time and showcased his masterful craftsmanship. However, the tradition ended with the Russian Revolution and execution of the Romanov family in 1918.

1. FABERGE EGGS

2.  Easter is the most joyful celebration of the Orthodox faith in
Russia.
 After church services, families gather to exchange gifts of
decorated eggs, symbols of renewed life and hope.
 The Easter of 1885 marked the twentieth anniversary of Czar
Alexander III and Czarina Maria Fedorovna, and the Czar needed
an exceptional gift for his wife.
 He commissioned a young jeweler, Peter Carl Faberge, who’s
work had recently caught his wife’s eye.
 On Easter morning, Faberge delivered to the palace what
appeared to be a simple enameled egg.
 To the delight of the Empress, inside was a golden yolk; within
the yolk was a golden hen; and concealed within the hen was a
diamond miniature of the royal crown and a tiny ruby egg.

4.  His wife’s delight was all that Czar needed to reward Faberge with
an egg commission every year.
 The requirements were straightforward:
 each egg must be unique
 Each must contain a suitable surprise for the Empress
 With consummate craftsmanship and an inventive spirit, Faberge
repeatedly met the challenge, borrowing inspiration from the
gilded lives of Czar and Czarina.
 In October of 1894 the Czar’s health failed.
 He died suddenly in the prime of life and his son Nicholas II
ascended the throne.
 Not prepared to be a Czar, Nicholas decided to just continue on
with all the things his father had done, including the tradition of
the Easter Egg.

6.  Nicholas continued the commission for his mother’s egg and
added another order for his new wife, Czarina Alexandrea
Fedorovan.
 So imaginatively conceived and opulently executed, Faberge’s
work elevated jewelry to a decorative art unequaled since the
Renaissance.
 At the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris, the Imperial eggs were
shown in public for the first time.
 The eggs astounded the jury, which showered Faberge with
honors and his fame spread throughout Europe.
 Faberge’s workshops became flooded with commissions,
transforming an ordinary goldsmith shop into the famous “House
of Faberge.”
 Year by year, Faberge’s Imperial Easter Eggs reached new
heights of invention and extravagance, expressions in miniature
of the imperial privilege.
 Ultimately, these eggs would become painful reminders of the
tragic events to come.

7.  All of the elements of the Romanov story came together most
elegantly in the Fifteenth Anniversary egg (1911).
 It was a family album just over five inches tall.
 Exquisitely detailed paintings depicted the most notable events of
the reign of Nicholas II and each of the family members.
 There are his five children, all these sort of glamorous events
surrounding their lives, and there they are looking happy and
unknowing what was going to happen to them just a few years
later.

8.  During the first months of Russia’s involvement in World War I,
the simmering discontent of the troubled nation is cooled by
patriotic unity in defense of the motherland.
 Russia’s dismal economic conditions made it impossible for
Nicholas to sustain the war effort against powerful, industrialized
Germany.
 By 1917, famine threatened the country, riots and strikes
demanding bread were common in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
 When the Imperial troops joined the demonstrators, the
government collapsed to the revolution.
 On March 15th with neither the support of the people n0r the
aristocracy, Nicolas was forced to resign.

9.  The next day a decree was passed, ordering the arrest of
Nicholas II and all other members of the Romanov family.
 The Czar and his family were eventually removed to Siberia
where they were held captive for over a year.
 On July 17th, 1918 Nicholas, his wife, and his five children were
hearded into a basement and executed.
 Of the immidiate family, only Nicholas’ mother escaped the
assassins.
 As she made a hasty departure from her homeland, she brought
with her the Order of St. George egg, the last Faberge Imperial
Easter egg she would ever receive from her son.