The Fabergé Museum in Baden-Baden was founded in 2009 to honour the Russian jeweller Peter Carl Fabergé. It now houses more than 700 rotating items, including original works for Tsar Alexander III (1845-1894) and Tsar Nicholas II (1868-1917). Fabergé is best known for his bespoke Easter Eggs, but his work extended well beyond those.
Competitors and contemporaries on display
The museum doesn't only show Fabergé. It also covers his 19th-century rivals and colleagues. The line-up reads like a who's-who of late-19th-century European jewellery:
Carl Edvard Bolin
Joined Andreas Roempler as a full partner after marrying Roempler's daughter Ernestine Catherina. Bolin's firm was Fabergé's main competitor in Russia in the late 1800s, until Fabergé eventually surpassed him in imagination, creativity, and popularity.
Frédéric Boucheron
Founded his Paris house in the mid-19th century. His big breakthrough was the corsage he created in 1878 for Russian Prince Felix Yusupov - it included six detachable diamond bows. The success led him to open a Moscow branch in 1893. (More about Boucheron.)
Louis-François Cartier
Held his first exhibition and sale at the Grand Hotel Europe in Saint Petersburg in 1907. Tsar Nicholas II appointed him an official purveyor to the House of Romanov shortly afterwards.
Pavel Akimovich Ovchinnikov
Founded his firm in Moscow in 1853, almost twenty years before Fabergé got serious. Named a purveyor to the Tsar's court in 1868. Combined traditional shapes with cloisonné enamel and the then-modern shaded-enamel technique in which colours blended naturalistically, with no metal separating them.
Ignaty Sazikov
Established as a court supplier by the Tsar in 1846. Specialised as a silversmith - silverware, cast silver, cloisonné-enamelled silver. The standout piece is a 27-piece punch set commissioned by Tsar Alexander III in 1874-75, weighing 12.45 kilograms.
Ivan Khlebnikov
Bought the Sazikov firm from his heirs in 1887. World-renowned for enamelled silver, silver chasing, trompe-l'oeil castings, and cloisonné and plique-à-jour enamelling.
The most popular pieces in the Fabergé collection
The bowenite chameleon
A chameleon fashioned in bowenite - a pale-green semi-precious stone traditionally used by the Māori of New Zealand for tools, weapons, and jewellery. The eyes are delicate Siberian rubies ringed with gold. Once belonged to King George V of Greece.
The silver rabbit family
A doe and six kits, all in silver, with inset eyes of rubies. Ridiculously detailed.
The horse-race trophy
A cloisonné cup created by Fabergé in 1911 for Tsar Nicholas II for the World Exhibition in Rome. Mostly turquoise enamel and gilt on silver.
The Tsarina Alexandra brooch (1913)
An imperial Russian eagle in full wingspread, fashioned of gold and platinum with diamond and ruby accents. Part of a larger brooch collection.
The Buddha figure
A late-19th-century Buddha created by Fabergé from bowenite, gold, brilliant-cut diamonds, Siberian rubies, and Guilloché-Émaille - a mechanical technique for applying delicate, repetitive design to a metal base. Fabergé perfected this on his Easter Eggs and used it elsewhere as the opportunity arose.
The Wigström desk clock
A gilded, Guilloché-Émaille desk clock in silver from after 1903, by one of Fabergé's chief workmasters, Henrik Immanuel Wigström.
The Perchin stemmed bowl
A small bowl by Michael Evlampievich Perchin - perhaps Fabergé's premier workmaster until his death in 1903. Topaz, gold, diamonds, and enamel; a snake winding around the stem from base to bowl.
The Romanov anniversary brooches
More than two dozen brooches commemorating the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty (1613-1913). Amethysts, rose-coloured diamonds, brilliant diamonds, and gold.
The Fabergé Eggs
The museum cycles around 700 items in and out of display on a mix-and-match basis. The standout among the eggs is a regrettably unfinished Easter Egg with the working title Blue Constellation Easter Egg. It was made for Tsarina Alexandra in 1917 but never presented - the Communist Revolution interrupted.
The collection also holds an extensive set of luxurious cigarette cases with humorous animal miniatures in precious and semi-precious stones. Together, the holdings paint a vivid picture of the late-19th and early-20th-century jeweller's world.
Directions and opening hours
The museum is at Sophienstraße 30 in Baden-Baden, between Stephanienstraße and Vincentistraße, where Sophienstraße bears off north as a side street. Sophienstraße is a wide shopping boulevard starting at Leopoldsplatz, with a tree-rich landscaped median strip.
Hours: 1000 to 1800 daily. Closed on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.
Telephone: +49 (0) 7221 970890. Call ahead to confirm hours and to ask when the next exhibition rotation happens.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Fabergé Museum in Baden-Baden worth visiting?
Yes - it houses over 1,500 pieces including original Fabergé Eggs, and it's the largest collection of its kind outside Russia.
How long do you need to see the Fabergé Museum?
Two to three hours is comfortable. The museum rotates around 700 of its 1,500+ pieces, so check the website if a specific work is on your list.
Are photos allowed inside the museum?
Photo policy varies by exhibition. Check at the entrance - some rotating displays restrict photography.
