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The items on display date from
the 18th century to the present. Highlights of the collection are the great imperial crown of gold,
silver, diamond and pearls made for the coronation of Empress
Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great; the giant Orlov Diamond (189.6 carats), a present from Count Orlov to
his mistress, Catherine the Great; the Shah Diamond (88.7 carats), which was given to Czar
Nicholas I by the Shah of Persia as a gesture of condolence after
the assassination in 1829 of Alexander Griboyedov, the Russian
ambassador to Persia and a well-known poet; and the largest gold nugget to have been preserved in the
world, weighing 36kg.
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From the Diamond Fund Collection:
royal regalia of the Russian empire
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